ElseWorlds: Saving James
by Darth Yoshi
Summary: Imagine a world where Barbara Gordon has the child of the Joker...
1. Chapter 1

Elseworlds: Saving James

By Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: All characters and situations used within this story are ©2003 by DC Comics Inc. and are used without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. No profit is made from this story. This original work of fiction is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.

An infinite amount of answers for a finite amount of questions is how one could describe the relationship between reality and fantasy. For every action, there are all feasible reactions. Every mirror has a reflection, but that reflection is not exact. It is reversed, inverted and possibly tainted. 

So it is with time. One action has infinite results. One result determines the truth and all of the others are simply fanciful thoughts. Daydreams. Fantasies.

Nightmares.

Take any single event, be it a blessing or a tragedy, and look far enough into the reflection and you will see another result. All lives are related, all souls connect even if they don't share the exact same history. A broken arm here is a broken leg there. A hero in one world is the villain of another. Bearing children on one side of the page, bearing shame on the other.

In a world where the truth is a spine shattered with a single bullet and a life is destroyed, the reflection may well show a reality where something else entirely occurs.

Her world had become one of confusion, blood, pain and laughter. The laughter was the worst because it wasn't a humorous, joyous sound. It was the empty high-pitched cackle of one whose soul was damned. It was the merriment of someone who saw reality as an option.

Too many times she had heard that sound and every time she had, someone died.

Her mind was still trying to comprehend the horror that her eyes were telling her had befallen them, she and her father. Nerve endings throughout her body screamed. She tried to call out, but it all that she could muster was nothing more than a choking cough. She tried to pray, but every time she started with a "Dear God", another sharp pain shot through her.

Behind her, his hips thrusting wildly in a sexual rhythm, the Joker giggled like a devil. He slapped her bare buttocks. "That's it, baby-doll, take it like the slut you are!" He immediately turned and grinned his trademark wide smile as one of his henchmen took a picture. Like a paparazzi catching a famous celebrity snorting drugs, the henchmen moved about, selecting different angles and lighting so that he could capture the full depravity of the rape of Barbara Gordon.

The flashbulb seemed to her to be a drum, keeping the beat of her nightmare going constant. Again and again she tried to resist, to summon forth that hidden strength so many others demonstrated in similar situations, but it would not come. Her spirit was broken and her courage was failing. It was hard to believe that only a month before, she had been the Batgirl, a super-hero that was considered an ally of the Batman.

Her father screamed curses and pleas all at once, his speech becoming broken as tears readily flowed down his face. She managed to turn her head just in time to see another henchman punch her father, police commissioner James Gordon, in the gut. Her father tried to stand, tried to continue to fight, but he was drained as well. He was too old, too out of shape to battle the young toughs the Joker had brought with him.

Fifteen minutes before the Clown Prince of Crime had simply rang the doorbell and shot Barbara through the stomach as she opened the front door. Before her body had hit the floor, the madman was directing his men to take her father and hold him fast. He had stood over her, waving the pistol in a circle, trying to decide which part to shoot next. She had watched the sudden change come over him, the way his green eyes had flashed with evil. It was as if Satan himself had walked into the Joker's mind and turned on the lights. 

A hardening male member soon replaced the pistol.

Rudely, he had taken her, entering her with all of the subtlety of a hurricane, forcing himself into her physically, assaulting her spiritually, and humiliating her publicly. Her faith taught her that everything happened for a reason, that there was good in everyone. The Joker's sexual attack was robbing her of that certainty. Her eyes drifted towards the windows and through tears she saw the curtains had been pulled shut.

At any moment she expected him to come crashing through, the shards of glass a rain of retribution and salvation. Like a pilgrim dying of thirst, she awaited her messiah.

Batman.

He wasn't just her hero or her father's best friend; he was the antiseptic that was used to wipe up the germs that Gotham City's underworld spawned. He always got to the scene just in time. The dark hero that had to save the day.

Where was he? She asked herself over and over again as the Joker made a game out of abusing her. He never invited his henchmen to join in. Only someone like the Joker, a man who had left reality and sanity far behind, would consider having sex with a dying woman and he was not about to share. "You must work out," the Joker sneered. "Feel these knockers, boys, hard as rocks! Oh! What's this? Somebody is enjoying themselves!"

Her shame was only magnified as he pulled on her nipples, made erect by the shock and adrenaline; her body was reacting, trying to reassert its control. The Joker instead turned it into the stuff of cheap porn films. He pulled again, eliciting a painful moan. "She loves it boys!"

Two of the thugs tore her shirt off, exposing her to all of them including her father. They manhandled her and one even got brave enough to try and sodomize her. The Joker stopped his gyrations long enough to give the man a cold look and Barbara took a little satisfaction in realizing that the Joker would most likely kill the man later. 

Jim Gordon's whimpers were cut short with a quick blow to the back of the head with a pistol grip. The two men who had been joining in Barbara's assault quickly moved, in an effort to make up for their trespass, to take Jim out the back way. Barbara reached out a hand in a futile gesture to try and stop them, her lessons under the Batman kicking in over the pain. 

"Never give up," he always said.

She began to pull in the courage she knew was deep inside of her and cold logic began to overcome fear. The body was wounded, but it was not defeated. She thought about the stories she had heard of police officers and firemen who, wounded, still managed not only to save themselves, but others as well. Pain was only a state of mind. He guts were perforated, perhaps major organ damage, but she was the product of God's wonderful plan. She was the perfect machine. She would rise above this!

Then the Joker finished and the disgust and sickness she felt chained her to a rock of emotional despair. 

Barbara was no virgin; she was a divorced woman and had been around the block a few times. She had only a few lovers, some good and some bad. Regardless of their technique or how they were equipped, the sex ended the same way. A man finished by giving up a piece of him, surrendering the warmth and fire of his passion to put deep inside someone whom he, hopefully, cared about. It was not just a deposit of bodily fluids, it was a release of hot emotion, a climax, if you will, of sweet emotion. It was the sacrament of tenderness, something only two people in love could truly cherish.

Not so with the Joker. His finish was cold, almost freezing. The feeling of numbness began to slowly makes it's way through her pelvis and she vomited. It was unnatural and inhuman what she felt her body already absorbing. All she could think of was how now a piece of the Joker would forever be hers.

The Clown Prince got up, wiping himself on her torn shirt. Then he put a foot on her exposed buttocks and forced her flat onto her stomach. "You stay there, sweetheart," he said as he zipped his shorts.

"You want us to look around the place, boss?" one of the thugs asked.

The Joker considered it for a moment. Maybe if the little woman on the floor weren't so lively, he'd be willing to make a quick exit. It wasn't like she was paralyzed or anything! 

Yet, could he afford to tarry? He had plans, after all, for Jim Gordon and, hopefully, the Batman.

He looked down at the blood-splattered Barbara and his eyes drifted to her posterior. She was a looker, that was for sure, and like any red-blooded, green-haired American male, the Joker loved to get a piece of ass every now and then. As long as she didn't croak, he'd give her another round. "Somebody get her a band-aid or something while I go see if she has anything sexy to slip into!"

One of the henchmen immediately ran into the kitchen and came out with some towels while another went to boil some water. The Joker made his way upstairs, smacking this and that with the wide-brimmed Bermuda hat he was carrying. One room was obviously Jim's because it was bland, full of tasteless furniture and painted a neutral color. Further on down the hallway he came to Barbara's room.

He stepped inside and sniffed the air. "Smells like teen spirit," he remarked. Of course, Barbara Gordon was not a teen; built like one perhaps but chronologically she had passed that mark a few years back.

The walls were adorned with the memories of an entire childhood and the Joker took great delight in urinating on everything he could. He started with stuffed animals and when he dried out, he began to pile pictures and nick-knacks in the center of the room for a future endeavor.

Eventually, he would generate the proper amount of fluids needed to douse the pile in his foulness. It was sort of his parting gift to his new lover. Some men left roses. Some men wrote poems. The Joker pissed on your belongings.

The Joker opened up a sliding closet door to find several articles of clothing. Her tastes ranged form conservative to ultra-conservative. He dug farther, opening shoes boxes and even finding an old prom dress. He thought about making her wear that for their next session; after all, he didn't get laid at his prom.

His hand brushed against the back of the closet and he heard a hollow sound. It wasn't the typical kind of noise you got from an non-insulated wall; it sounded more like an empty space…a big empty space. He felt around the area, tossing clothes out in his hurry to discover this hidden treasure. He hoped it was a secret gun locker. It would bring him such pleasure to go out and commit several murders using Jim Gordon's gun collection.

It would make perfect sense to hide it in his daughter's room because the typical burglar would think such a safe would be in Jim's room.

He heard a scream from downstairs. The boys were getting restless and he was sure that even his threats would work for only so long against several horny men. There was a helpless babe downstairs with her legs open; the temptation was probably too great for the simple-minded dolts he chose to surround himself with.

The Joker was about to give up and go kill someone when he found the latch. A door popped open. It was not a large door, but it revealed three shelves hidden inside the closet. There was something folded on the shelves, something made of leather. He wondered if old Barbara was into sadomasochism? "Whip me teenage babe," he murmured, recalling the title to an old song he used to love.

He grabbed one of the leather outfits and unfolded it.

There was no smile on his face as he realized what he was holding, but there was a grin of satisfaction. The large yellow bat emblem on the chest told him everything he needed to know. 

Quickly, he folded the uniform back and put everything the way it was supposed to be, making it appear that he had never found the hidden door. He even took the time to wipe down the surfaces and got down on his hands and knees to look for his own hairs. 

Twenty minutes later he came downstairs to find Barbara spitting something onto the floor, her faces was puffy and red from the tears and it look like someone had slapped her hard across the face. The rest of her body was taking on a pale color and the Joker realized that she was awake by pure force of will. It made sense though and he secretly admired the Batman for the effort and time he had put into her. 

"Who?" he asked, his voice deep. It was obvious that someone had decided to have their way with his prize.

One of the henchmen pointed to a larger man who was puffing his chest up. He wanted to fight, but the Joker didn't have the time. He ordered his other men to kill him. Four pistols rang out in unison and the fifth man fell.

The Joker went over to the telephone and dialed. "Hello, 9-1-1? I have an emergency. Yes. Well, I just shot and raped a woman and I think she's dying. Yes, I'm serious. Really. My name? I'm Batman."

He laughed into the phone, his high-pitched cackling and Barbara managed to get out a final word before her ordeal claimed her. "Bastard…"

The Joker bent down and gave her a kiss on the forehead and then gathered his men. Together, they ran off into the night.  

* * * * *

Her eyes opened slowly, the light painfully boring into her brain, turning on her other senses. She smelled baby powder and antiseptic ointment. She heard footfalls on hard tiles and an intercom paging someone in the distance. He felt the various tubes stuck into her body. She also felt a dull pain in her back.

Her vision took a few seconds to focus, her eyes apparently having grown lazy since she last opened them. For the briefest of moments, she hoped that all of it had been an awful dream, but then when she saw the face staring back at her, the eyes red from tears, she knew the truth.

"Hi," Dick Grayson said, his voice soft with a slight tremble. In the bright light of the hospital room, she noted that he had a face without flaws; he was perfect in almost every way. He had the physique of a Greek god, the heart of a poet and the bravery of Superman. 

In his secret life, he was the former Robin, once sidekick to the Batman. Now he was operating with the Titans as Nightwing and had since left Gotham City for New York. He was a few years younger than her and had been her first real crush. Yes, he was almost perfect she thought.

"He has been by your side almost non-stop," a sultry voice said. It had an odd accent to it and Barbara recognized it immediately as belonging to Kory Anders, the alien super-model, super-hero and girlfriend of the man with the doe eyes. "His devotion to your friendship would not allow him to even eat."

The Tamarran princess was tall, well over six feet tall with flowing brown hair that only accented her bronze skin. She was a perfect specimen of female and Barbara suddenly felt ugly and small. She silently cursed herself as she realized that feelings of loathing often were part of the post-rape experience.

"My father," she said, her voice raspy. Dick immediately reached for a glass and handed it to her. The water was cool and refreshing. 

"He's out of the hospital now; Batman saved him," Dick said quietly. They were in a private room but you never knew when someone might walk in. A careless word in front of an orderly or nurse could end the career of the Batman. Even though Nightwing and Batman did not work together or even speak to each other, they still respected the code of secrecy.

"The Joker?" she asked. Dick told her he had been captured and put back in Arkham Asylum. He then explained that the district attorney was still looking into whether or not any charges would be filed against the madman for his crimes. 

"Some members of the city council are saying it would be a waste of time," he said without any further detail. She was still too weak to deal with the all of the details of the corruption that had been seen regarding the case. "Kory, would you call Bruce and let him know what's going on? He can contact her father."

Kory smiled, her alien pupiless eyes glistening and she bent down to give Dick a kiss. Barbara was reminded of the Joker's parting affection. 

When she had gone, Dick sighed. "You've been out of it for three weeks. The bullet narrowly missed your spine. We thought you were going to lose a kidney, too, but the doctors were able to patch you up pretty good. They say it looked a lot worse than what it was."

"I feel like someone kicked me in the stomach with the Batmobile," she joked. She noticed that he hadn't smiled. Dick had always been so jovial around her, his smile contagious. Certainly they had not spoken to each other for awhile, not since he started dating other women and she had went ahead and gotten married for no good reason, but she couldn't believe he had gone and grown up all of a sudden.

He was a big kid at heart, a man too old for his age and too young for his destiny. "What is it?" she asked, again her throat burned. He reached for the glass and she put a hand on top of his. 

"I don't think I should be the one to tell you," he said, looking away.

Her first thought was that the rape had damaged her so much that a hysterectomy had been performed. She would never have children and a feeling of emptiness engulfed her. Since she had been a young girl she had dreamed of having a baby, of being a mother. "Tell me," she said, putting her head back against the pillow. She closed her eyes.

Another sigh and he began to speak in guarded tones. "The doctors have been running all kinds of tests on you, checking your blood and everything to make sure that the Joker didn't give you anything."

She began to pray to God, trying to reestablish the link that had somehow been severed during the attack. "Please don't let it be AIDS," she prayed.

"Barbara, you're pregnant."

A dark hand seemed to reach up from out of her mind and before she knew it, her world went black.


	2. Chapter 2

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 2

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"Get rid of the damn thing."

Barbara looked at her father through tears that refused to stop coming. A life was growing inside of her and all her father wanted to do was kill it. It went against her religious upbringing and touched down towards something even deeper. Something primordial. "I don't believe in abortion, dad."

He shook his head and rubbed his face. When he moved his arm, she could smell the smoke on his clothes. He had started drinking again as well according to the Batman. She didn't need the services of the World's Greatest Detective to tell her that, though; she recognized the signs. He was irritable and given to raising his voice even in the most casual of conversations.

He had not spoken of his ordeal under the Joker's less than tender care and the Batman remained closed-lip about it as well. One of the cops on the force who once had a crush on Barbara had been assigned to guard her and they had discussed it. The cop had revealed, in very close whispers that James Gordon had suffered greatly. He, too, had been sexually assaulted by the Joker, tied up nude in the midst of criminals and shown the pictures of his daughter's rape. 

Gordon had refrained, however, from asking the Batman to kill the Joker when the Dark Knight had rescued him. Many would have seen that as the mark of a good cop, but Barbara suspected otherwise. There was the chance that her father simply wanted to do the job himself. "You're a damn liberal! How can you be against abortion?"

"I believe it's a woman's right to choose; I choose not to. I can't, dad," she said. It was turning into the conversation she had so badly wanted to avoid. It was bad enough when Dick had told her she was pregnant, but when she realized that the cold feeling that had enveloped her insides after the Joker's rape was the beginning of her child's life, a thousand nightmares came to mind. 

The Joker was human; there was no doubt about that, but a human whose mind was shattered by unknown tragedy and chemical exposure. There was nothing to tell her that her baby was going to be anything close to normal. Several specialists, paid for in secret by Bruce Wayne, had already been flown in to examine her.

It wasn't how she imagined her first pregnancy was going to be like.

"Then choose differently," he demanded. "Kill the little parasite and kill it now. I can't stand the thought of that thing growing inside of you."

"Dad," she pleaded, "I can't do it."

He got up and she saw the trembling in his hands. "This is not the legacy I want to leave behind when I die. I don't want the Gordon name to be forever related to that son of a bitch, don't you see that? When they do television specials about the Joker after he's dead, they'll always talk about his kid, the grandson of the cop who put him away!"

She buried her face in her hands. "This is not about you, dad! This is about me and what happened to my body and to me! It's my choice!"

He cursed and then stomped out of the room. She knew he would be back later in the day and they would have it out again. His hatred for the Joker grew every time he looked at his daughter's face. That hate was threatening to consume him and she was worried for him. The Joker had kidnapped him with the intent of driving him insane, to bring him over to the dark side of humanity.

She dried her eyes and went through several meditation exercises to calm her. She had been receiving several visitors but one kept returning time after time. Dick and she had always been close, but never close enough. They had always been friends, even lovers now and again, but they had never been able to cross the line from friend to partner.

It was obvious that they had feelings for each other, but neither had ever thought that a relationship was possible. Yet, everyday he was here and she was sure that every night, Kory was waiting for him in New York, fuming. The alien had never liked Barbara and she wasn't exactly fond of her either.

Donna Troy had stopped in; she was another member of the Titans and the one person Barbara always thought Dick would marry if not her. Kory just didn't seem right for Dick; he was a private person and Kory was someone very happy in the spotlight. Dick had lost his love for adulation with the death of his parents.

Papers were being delivered to her, a variety from all over the country, though she always picked up the _Gotham Gazette_ first. The current headline was talking about a membership shake-up at the Justice League International. Both Black Canary and Batman had left, though the report stated that Batman was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Nobody believed that someone without super-powers could make it on the League.

"Hey, Red," Dick said as he came in. She saw he was carrying flowers again, just as he did every day. She was beginning to get spoiled from all of the attention she was getting from him. It was still a mystery to her why he even cared at all. 

They weren't an item, after all.

"I passed your dad in the hall; he looked pissed." He set the flowers down next to her and pulled up a chair.

"You know, if you keep visiting me, people are going to talk," she said with a smile. She found it important to put on a brave face in front of him and she wondered if that were the maternal instinct kicking in? Was she now accepting pain in order to make others happy, just as any mother would? Did she feel some sort of motherly connection to him?

"I doubt it," he said in the semi-serious tone he was not using when he was with her. "The entire floor is for you only."

"Is that why it's so quiet up here?" she asked. "Bruce went all out."

"Yeah," he said quietly, his face turning away slightly. He couldn't lie to her but his modesty prevented him from telling her the truth. Dick Grayson was wealthy in his own right and it was obvious from his demeanor that he was paying for everything.

She wanted to protest, she wanted to assault him verbally for his chivalry. He had no right to be doing such a thing. "Yeah," was all she said and the matter was dropped.

"I guess your father wants you to have an abortion," Dick said.

Barbara nodded and her hands went to her stomach. Somewhere in there, according to her father, the spawn of evil was growing. "I told him no."

"Good," he replied.

She arched an eyebrow and he explained. "I don't recognize a woman's right to choose. There's nothing greater than children and I refuse to believe that God would allow a woman to get pregnant if it wasn't meant to be."

"That's a pretty Neanderthal attitude, Mr. Grayson."

He shrugged. "Kory believes the same thing."

There it was, Barbara thought, the big reason why they had been kept apart. She had believed in a woman's right to choose and he hadn't. 

It was deeper than that, though, and she knew it. As much as she wanted to get married and have a big family, it was nothing compared to how much Dick did. He constantly thought about being a father and at the same time was afraid of becoming one. Had she given the impression that she would not be interested in having children?

It was possible, she assumed. She was a career-oriented woman and always had been. Even when she had been running around as Batgirl, her eyes were towards the future and how she could succeed in the world. Dick had never had to think about that because he was rich, plain and simple. Maybe people who had to work hard for everything frightened him?

Whatever the reason, she was beginning to see that boy was becoming a man. She could no longer remember what he had looked like as a teenager when they had flirted and skirted the boundaries of good behavior. There was a hollow look to his eyes and she wondered if his separation from the Batman, a rift caused when as Robin, Dick had been ordered to surrender the identity.

In that time he had drifted from identity to identity and had somehow lost contact with Barbara. Now she had been raped and was pregnant and here he was, looking sadder than ever. It wasn't pity that she saw in those blue eyes, though.

It was regret.

What he regretted she couldn't begin to know. Was it that he hadn't been there that night when it happened? Did he regret not killing the Joker sometime in the past? 

Did he regret that the child she carried was not his?

"He won't give up, you know," he said.

"Who? Dad? Yeah, you're right. I'm thinking it might be best if I went away for awhile." She looked out the window at the city skyline. "This is too much stress for both of us."

"Where will you go?" he asked. She knew what he wanted her to say. 

"Metropolis," she answered, not looking at him. He would stay in New York with his alien super-model girlfriend.

They weren't an item, after all.

* * * * *

The Joker received the news from the television. It was a major story and the reporter had the look of Pulitzer as he delivered his well-rehearsed script.

"Reliable sources within the Gotham City Police Department have told this reporter that Police Commissioner Gordon's daughter, twenty-eight year old Barbara Gordon, is pregnant with the child of the Joker."

The camera zoomed in and the Penguin gasped at the revelation. His nose, often the punch line for the jokes of residents and staff alike, was a pointer for the others in the room. Several people in grey coveralls were simply staring at the Clown prince as he picked up the remote and adjusted the volume.

The scene switched to an outside view of Gotham University Hospital. "Reports indicate that Ms. Gordon, who is still recuperating from a gunshot wound received during the commission of the rape, has undergone several tests to determine whether or not the child is healthy."

The Joker arched an eyebrow, considering the ramifications of this latest news. He vaguely remembered the sexual aspect of the rape as he tended to concentrate more on the pain than the pleasure and he realized that he had indeed left something of himself behind. As long as that was the only thing…

The he realized something else. He had gotten Batgirl knocked up. Sudden paranoia set in as he suspected everyone in the room of being Batman in disguise. Several voices in his head laughed at him for his foolishness; Batman wasn't about to kill him, especially for something as trivial as rape. After all, hadn't he killed Batman's partner Robin a year or so before? 

The Clown Prince settled back and enjoyed the stares. His standing among the villains of Gotham City just shot to the moon. As the story progressed, Two-Face began to clap, followed by the Riddler, Penguin and Mad Hatter. Even Poison Ivy joined in, surprised that the Joker would have been so daring. It was a crime worthy of praise; no doubt Jim Gordon was contemplating eating a bullet right then!

The Joker stood up and took a bow, but said nothing. He did not trust his own lips from revealing even more information. If his peers were to find out exactly who Barbara Gordon really was, the Joker would not doubt be elected "Dictator for Life" over the underworld. It topped killing the Teen Wonder, not that any of these fools realized it. Batman kept so many partners that it was simply no fun trying to keep track anymore.

A guard escorted the Joker back to his cell and he entered without saying anything. He quickly searched the room, something he often did, looking for any hidden cameras or listening devices. Afterwards, he would look up at the big black security camera mounted on the wall and wonder why he even bothered. "If I knew the answer to that, then I wouldn't be crazy," he murmured.

Finally, he sat down on his cot, picking at lint and other things on the thick wool blanket. A memory stabbed at him, something from before the time of his turning, back when he was a sap and a failure. Something was reaching out to him from before Joker-time and he wasn't quite sure what it was. He knew that at one time he had been Jack Napier and he seemed to remember a wife and a child.

A child was something he had never had. A little Joker. Maybe a daughter. Something he could groom to inherit his criminal empire. 

He looked around at his cell. Perhaps the word empire did not exactly fit at this point in time. It mattered little, though; no sane court in the land was ever going to let him near the little bastard or bitch no matter what. It would be something, though, he thought. "Joker named Father of the Year," he cackled, imagining a future newspaper headline. 

He wondered if he and Batman were related now? Wouldn't that be rich?

"I wonder if she'll sue me for child support," he said, rubbing his chin. 

It was then that the Joker had an epiphany. He suddenly saw the world in a whole different light; a new purpose was laid out before him like the Yellow Brick Road. He got up and pressed the buzzer for the guard. The burly orderly came up with a bored look on his face. The Joker liked this guy. "Fred, I'd like to go back to the Rec Room."

"Whatever," was the reply. The Joker could have slaughtered the Pope in front of this guy and he wouldn't care. 

Back with his compatriots in crime, the Joker started to make the rounds. He was given handshakes and pats on the back. Some of the female inmates even offered him sexual favors and he thought that they must have been insane. Joker didn't have sex for pleasure; it was just a means to get a little closer so he could really wallop you! He didn't flat out turn down the invites because every once in awhile, as with Barbara Gordon, he'd get that itch that had to be scratched.

He finally found himself sitting at a card table with Two-Face and Maxie Zeus. "Max," the Joker said, "run along."

"Zounds! Do you not know to whom you speak? I am a god…"

"Go or I'll stuff your nuts into your eye sockets," Two-Face said. Maxie smiled and made a comment about seeing to other Olympian affairs. "You want to talk?" Two-Face asked.

The Joker regarded the half-ruined face of Harvey Dent. Once, he had been the District Attorney for Gotham County, but that had been before a criminal threw a vial of acid in Harvey's face. Half of his face was horribly scarred and green in color, while the other half was as pristine as the day Harvey had been born. 

The doctors at the Arkham Asylum were convinced that Harvey's personality split that day the acid hit him, but the Joker wasn't quite sure. There was a true evil side to Harvey Dent that had to be manifesting long before he ever became Two-Face. "I got a legal question," the Joker asked.

"Ask your lawyer," was the gruff reply.

The Joker snickered. "I killed my last one; impaled him with a Chevy."

"That had to hurt."

"No, I'm fine now," the Joker said, not understanding the statement or simply not caring, "but I was hoping to get some advice on some family matters."

"Family? Oh…" Two-Face smiled and flipped his trademark coin. It had two faces of heads, but one had been purposely ruined. It came up on the good side. "I'll listen."

The Joker then spent the next fifteen minutes explaining his plan, but managed to keep out the details about Batgirl. It was tough and he actually had to take his fist and punch himself in the groin in order to keep the information in his head. Most people were used to the way the Joker kept himself amused and so Two-Face was not distracted. 

The former district attorney listened and nodded, but it was only for show. He had been one of the finest lawyers in the world at one time and within the second sentence of the Joker's story, he had already determined a proper legal assault. "Before you can do any of this," he started, "you need to get declared sane."

"Oh, is that all?" the Joker asked. He resisted the urge to cackle madly and Two-Face could see the strain on his face.

Two-Face leaned in close. "I'm going to help you only because I want to see Gordon go down. He should have put a bullet in you the last time. I would have."

"Harvey! I never knew you cared," the Joker responded. For a criminal, Two-Face had a really weird sense of right and wrong. "So, how do I get declared sane?"

Two-Face shrugged. "I can't help you there, nut-head; if I had a doctor on the take, I'd be out of here."

"Bribery? Maybe blackmail?"

Two-Face grimaced. "For what? Even the orderlies here are squeaky clean. I heard that Ivy stood in her cell butt-naked and tried to get one of the doctors to give her a little weed treatment, if you know what I mean…"

"She wanted someone to pluck out her pubic hairs?"

Two-Face gave him a look like he was the dumbest person in the world. "How the hell did you ever manage to rape a woman? A duck I could see you doing, but a woman?"

"A duck?"

"Never mind; like I said, if I was Gordon, you'd be in a box six feet under by now. You ain't and like it or not, we other criminal have to deal with you." Two-Face stood up. "You get a doc to play ball and then we'll talk. Until then, you're pretty much screwed."

"Screwed? The Joker is never screwed, my friend," was the cold reply. "If anything, the Joker does the screwing."  


	3. Chapter 3

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 3

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

 "You can't leave!" Jim Gordon bellowed. His breath reeked of scotch and he fumbled for his pack of cigarettes. He was past a pack a day already. "You especially can't go to Metropolis!"

Barbara quietly packed her suitcase, holding back the tears. She had to move slowly as the doctors said it would be some weeks before she would be able to regain the full use of her legs. Her lower back muscles had to heal. "You're lucky that you are so young and strong," the physician had remarked when she had checked out. "Most women your age don't work out as hard as you do. You have good muscle tone."

It had been meant as a compliment, a pick-me-up, but it had the opposite effect. Having another man look at her, judging her like a steak about to be eaten, made her feel dirty. It was a feeling she couldn't shake, that men were appraising her for their sexual pleasure. The only males she felt comfortable around were her father and Dick. 

Bruce did not bother to come around for whatever reason. Her father was on the verge of damaging their relationship. Dick had been in New York the night before.

With his girlfriend.

"Dad, it's like I've been telling you: it isn't your decision to make. I'm a bog girl now…"

He coughed. "How in the hell will you take care of yourself? What will you do? You don't have any money. You have no friends there!" He was pleading with her to stay, but she had to question why. Four times he had brought up the idea of aborting the child in her belly and four times she had rebuffed him. Bad or good, she wasn't giving the baby up.

"It just so happens that I have a job interview in the morning," she said. "The _Daily Planet_ is needing a researcher. I think I have a good shot at the position." She closed one suitcase and went to get another. She needed to get her father out of the room so she could pack her Batgirl outfit. 

She had been relieved when Dick had told her the secret cache had been undisturbed, but that it had been the only thing. Precious few items had escaped the Joker's madness. The room had a permanent piss-smell to it. 

It reminded her too much of the Joker's cold manhood. Regardless of her situation, she would never be able to sleep in this room or house again.

"A newspaper? Honey, they don't pay very well," he offered in counter.

She shook her head. "I have money and a line on a cheap apartment."

"What next? Welfare? Food stamps?"

She turned and shot an angry look at him. She tried to find some hint of sorrow for his words, but there was none. All she could see was the drunken anger of a man being pushed too hard. "Whatever I do, it will be my decision."

"You're being stupid!" he cried out.

The tears now ran down her face and she cursed him out of frustration. She was tired of crying.  She wanted to laugh again. "At least I'm not throwing my life away! You keep drinking and smoking like that and you'll have a heart attack. Again."

"I'd rather be a dead drunk than the mother to Satan," he hissed.

She was about to reply when the doorbell rang. Jim Gordon looked at his daughter and shook his head. He let loose with a few more words, most of them directed at the Joker and then stomped down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairwell, he drew his service revolver. Never again would he be caught off-guard. 

He opened the door a crack and then put the weapon back in his holster, which was hidden from view by the door. "Dick Grayson?"

"Sir," Dick said with a nod. There was a cab parked behind him on the street. "Barbara asked me to pick her up and take her to the airport."

"To go to Metropolis? Why not drive?" Jim asked as he opened the door farther. He invited the young man in. "Let me guess, you arranged a private plane?"

Dick smiled, letting the image of the well-to-do son of playboy Bruce Wayne settle in. "I realize Barbara and I haven't dated in years, but when I heard what happened…"

"It's very nice of you, son," Jim said, closing the door. "I do appreciate everything you and your father do."

The statement was the end of the conversation, as Dick did not want to pursue the matter any further. Whether or not Jim Gordon knew the secret identity of Batman was something that had often times been debated on long nights in the Batcave. If he did know, he wasn't about to tip his hand. 

Bruce Wayne, however, was known for his many charity works as was Dick and so the statement could have been nothing more than an innocent observation. "I haven't seen much of you in Gotham City this past year," Jim said as he led Dick upstairs.

"I'm living in New York right now, pursuing some business ventures here and there, studying when I can," Dick replied.

"So, what do you think of Barbara having this baby?"

Dick was caught off-guard and was saved by Barbara. "I don't care what he thinks either, Dad," she said. Dick saw that she had been crying and could guess what had been transpiring before he had arrived. "Dick, there are some things in my closet," she said. He knew she was talking about her Batgirl gear. "Would you get it and my other suitcase while I say good-bye to Dad?"

Dick nodded and squeezed past Jim. Alone on the stairs, father and daughter stared at each other. Barbara was the first to break the silence. "Dad, I love you…I love you so very much, but I can't…"

            "Baby," Jim said as he started to cry. The scotch was making it easy for the tears to flow. "Don't you realize how this…this…_child_ will change your life? It's the fruit of poisoned loins. It's a disease, a virus that is going to consume you."

"Like your disease is consuming you?" The argument and debate were pointless. He was not going to change his mind and she was not going to change hers. "Good-bye, Dad."

Dick appeared at the top of the stairs with two suitcases and a clothing bag. Jim refrained from speaking his mind and instead turned around and marched down the stairs, lighting a cigarette as he went.

He never said good-bye.

* * * * *

The Batman stared into the darkness, a cool wind blowing his heavy cape. His jaw was set, the demeanor was in place. Here stood a modern day knight, a dark protector for a city full of evil. Yet, he felt he was a failed knight, a fool in leather trying to play the hero.

"It's been awhile since we talked," Jim Gordon said as he stepped out onto the roof the Gotham Municipal Building. The famous Bat-Signal was turned off, the roof in almost complete darkness. The light from Jim's cigarette cast an eerie glow on the Commissioner's face. He looked old and worn out. "I never did thank you for saving me."

"It was implied," the Batman responded. He draped his cape over his shoulder, putting up a defensive barrier between him and his best friend. 

"How do you deal with it?" Jim asked after taking a long drag. "How do you deal with the loss of a child?"

Batman thought back over his career and the people he had attracted to his side. Dick and he weren't even talking and that was the one person whom he always thought he could turn to. Jason was gone, killed by the Joker because Batman tried to be a little less firm than he had been with Dick, or at least that was how he saw it. "You don't. Everyday you are reminded and everyday you have to find some reason to push on."

"I noticed you've been flying solo recently; something happened to the new Robin I supposed. Retirement?"

Batman nodded. Jim continued. "Barbara left for Metropolis yesterday. Dick Grayson, of all people, helped her move." There was no reaction from the Batman, but Jim hadn't expected any. "My little girl is gone."

"You needed a cooling off period, " Batman offered. It had been the same justification he had used when Dick had severed ties with him. "You've both been hurt very badly."

"Do you think she should keep the baby?" Jim asked suddenly. The Batman was caught off guard by the desperation in his friend's voice. The internal struggle within the veteran cop was plain to see. He loved his daughter but despised the Joker. 

"I don't think my opinion matters," Batman said, remaining neutral. In fact, he had been contemplating that very thought now for weeks, ever since it was discovered that Barbara was carrying the Joker's child. He had no idea what he would have done in the same situation; his only consolation was that Barbara had remained strong.

He was also happy to hear Dick was there as well. Despite their differences of opinion and philosophy, he respected the young man and knew he would watch over her. "Okay, then," Jim said, throwing down the cigarette and pulling out a silver flask. "Should I have let you kill the Joker?"

Batman scowled. "I don't kill, Jim; you know that."

"Maybe you should."

"I'm not an assassin," Batman began, slightly hurt at what he was hearing. It wasn't that he was being told that he wasn't doing his job, as he knew that he was. It was listening to a man who had, for years, upheld the law no matter what. Jim Gordon had been an inspiration to the Batman every time he felt like giving up. 

"I could handle, I think, her being hurt or crippled," Jim said, looking into the darkness, "but this is different. It's so wrong. It's like the complete reverse of the Immaculate Conception of Christ." He took another drink and offered the flask to the Batman. The Caped Crusader took it and turned it upside down.

Jim watched the scotch pour onto the gravel spread out on the rooftop. "I've got more in my office," he said.

"Then I'll get that, too," Batman said before putting the flask into a fold in his cape. "You're on duty."

"For now," Jim said, leaving a bit of mystery in the reply. Batman wondered if he was considering quitting the force.

Batman tried to change the subject. "There's someone new in town; she calls herself the Huntress."

Jim nodded. "Dark-haired in tight purple leather? Yeah, the beat cops can't stop talking about her. I suppose she's one of yours?"

"No; and she's dangerous, too. She an inch away from killing if she hasn't done it already," the Batman said. He suspected that she might have murdered some criminals, mobsters mostly, but he had no direct evidence. "I'm going to warn her off."

Jim shrugged. "If I see her first, I'll talk with her." Batman didn't like the tone his friend had used. It was a tone of complacency, of simply not caring anymore. There was something else as well.

As Bruce Wayne, the Batman sat on several loan committees for the major banks in Gotham City. Jim Gordon had applied for a substantial loan earlier that day, putting up his house and other items as collateral. It was a small business loan and he had put down, of all people, Bruce Wayne as a reference.

Outside the costume, Bruce was familiar with Jim Gordon, but not so much that he would think that the Commissioner would put him down to speak of his character. It was saying something else and Batman had been leery to say anything about it. Now, looking at the downward spiral his friend was about to embark on, he felt it imperative to say something, to reach a hand out.

He couldn't fail someone again. "How long have you known?"

"What? You mean who you are?" He laughed. "Dick confirmed it by showing up yesterday. I knew she was Batgirl." He sighed and turned to his friend. "I always thought you could protect her when I wasn't around. Maybe you did; maybe you still are by sending young Grayson." Jim could not know how deep the rift between father and son had grown. To him, it was all an act for the outside world. "Me? I couldn't stop what happened. All of my training, all of my authority meant nothing. They raped and sodomized my daughter and me. That grinning bastard got my daughter pregnant! I couldn't do a damn thing to stop it! I was weak!"

He pulled out the cigarette pack and quickly put one of the cancer-sticks in his mouth. He paused before lighting it. "I never meant to discover your identity; I didn't care. You were doing the right thing, or so I thought."

"I don't…"

"We don't protect this city, we absorb its pain. You, me, Dick, Barbara…we're nothing but Gotham's set of punching bags. Maybe its time we punched back." He inhaled deeply. "You're a good man, Bruce, but you aren't helping. You prolong the problem. It's time for a different philosophy."

"What? Killing criminals? Become the judge and jury? Circumventing the law?" Batman shook his head at the idea. "Our goal is justice; sometimes justice is not fair."

Jim laughed. "Fuck justice; I want revenge."

Batman started to say something, but Jim just turned and walked away, a cloud of smoke trailing behind him. After the Commissioner had gone back in, Batman noted something gleaming in the moonlight. He got down on his haunches and reached for the object and held it up in the dim starlight.

"No," he said as he examined Jim Gordon's badge.


	4. Chapter 4

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 4

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"Your resume is impressive, no doubt about that," Lois Lane said as she glanced over the sheets of canary yellow paper. The reporter set the papers down and smiled warmly. "To be honest, once I heard you were applying for this job, I sort of threw out all of the other resumes."

Barbara smiled and blew out. It had been two months since the attack and she was not yet starting to show. The doctors had been correct about the extent of her injuries and she was healing quickly. Moderate exercise plus some minor aerobics were helping her along so that on the outside, she looked absolutely fine.

She had moved into a very nice apartment in Metropolis in a building owned by someone who only rented to women in trouble. Both of her neighbors were battered women trying to escape from abusive husbands. The security was top-notch and she felt relatively safe there. Dick had arranged everything and there was no way she could begin to repay him for his kindness. She had asked how he knew about this building with the rent-controlled apartments and he wouldn't say. "The owner is a very private guy," was the only thing he would mention on the subject.

She had missed her first interview. During her initial night alone in the apartment, the nightmares had started. They ranged from reliving the assault to Freudian images of giant white worms plowing through virgin flower gardens, leaving trails of slime and waste in their wake. She had been so disturbed by the dreams that she had crawled into a corner of the apartment and cried for hours.

In one night, her entire life had been destroyed, tossed into the wind to be blown everywhere. She was pregnant, recovering from a gunshot wound and estranged from her father. She was lonely, at one time wanting a strong man to hold her and at the same time repulsed by the thought of sex. She was fearful of losing her mind or becoming a lesbian or both.

When she had requested a second interview, Lois Lane had not only agreed to it, but also offered to come over to the apartment complex. Now they sat in Barbara's kitchen sipping tea and chatting like they were old friends.

Barbara knew Lois mostly by reputation. She was a damn good reporter, perhaps one of the best and she was also the object of desire for the Man of Steel. Dick was Superman's biggest groupie and he was almost as knowledgeable of Lois Lane as he was of Barbara. 

She found the veteran reporter to be not only approachable, but also very likable. There was strength in her tone and manner, but something seductive as well. Maybe it was the thin lips or the deep color of her eyes, Barbara didn't know, but she had to wonder what it was that could attract a Superman.

Lois on the other hand found Barbara absolutely fascinating. "Can I talk to you about what happened?" she asked.

Barbara was skittish. "I don't want to be an expose for the _Planet_. Vicki Vale of the _Gotham Gazette_ already tried to get my story."

"That print-whore," Lois said with a grin. "She's a good writer; bad dresser though. She's got the legs to stop the world in its tracks and she's always got those pant-suits on."

Barbara laughed and then looked down at her gray sweats and WayneTech T-shirt. "Uh, I suppose I could answer some questions, off the record."

"I just wanted to know how you're dealing with the pregnancy?" Her tine was not that of a reporter, but of a sister. "Bruce Wayne called me this morning; we're old friends you know."

"Bruce is a…unique individual," Barbara said. It didn't surprise her that Bruce had called someone else to look in on her. It was probably too much trouble for him to come all the way to Metropolis. 

"Do you have a local doctor?"

Barbara sighed. "No, I've been commuting between here and Gotham. I have a…friend with a jet…"

"Don't we all," Lois confessed. "Look, if we're going to be working together…"

"Together? I thought this was a job for a researcher?" Barbara asked.

"Of course, dear, but you'll be my researcher! The truth is that I need the help. Being a reporter isn't as glamorous as the movies make it out to be!" Lois drained her tea before continuing. "Honey, I can't begin to imagine what you've been through, but you're lucky that Metropolis isn't Gotham and Metropolis doesn't pay attention to what goes on in that smelly place."

Barbara wasn't sure she enjoyed the reference to Gotham being stinky, but she said nothing. Lois pushed a card over to her. "This is my OB/GYN."

"I take it she's good?" Barbara asked.

Lois laughed; she seemed to do that a lot and Barbara wondered if she had ever been that happy. She had a brief mental image of her as Batgirl chuckling at some joke a teenaged Robin made as they sat waiting on a stakeout. "Honey," Lois began, "if you're going to date Superman, you need the absolute best."

Barbara giggled with her, but she felt no humor. Instead, she was laughing at the fact that such things no longer held her interest and she could not see the satire. Constantly she asked herself if she would ever want to have sex again and constantly she asked herself how she was going to raise her child.

The idea that the child would be one of special needs had not escaped her thoughts and she found herself going everyday to local church to pray for a miracle. She had been putting off getting a good doctor because any doctor worth their salt would want to start running all of the tests that Barbara did not want run. She was avoiding the issue for as long as she could.

She picked up the card. "Thank you."

Lois reached over and put a hand over hers. "Barbara, I want you to know that I think you and I can become great friends. You need a friend right now."

Barbara nodded. "I don't have a lot of friends, that's for sure." She could count them on one hand and all of them had huge emotional issues to deal with. That's when it occurred to Barbara what was so attractive about Lois: she was normal. This was the first normal person Barbara had spoken to in a long time. "When do you need me to start?"

"Well, you can work out of your apartment, but I think you should come in an meet the others: Jimmy, Perry, Clark…"

"Clark Kent?" she asked, mildly amused. She knew that Clark Kent was Superman. Dick had told her. "I'm a big fan of his work."

"He's not bad for a farm boy," Lois said with a grin as she stood up. "You've got my number if you need to talk some more. I'll have your first assignment dropped off tomorrow by special delivery."

Barbara walked her to the door and thanked her again for the position. Lois assured her that she had made the right decision and that a packet explaining her benefits, especially the medical coverage would be with the papers in the morning.

* * * * *

Special delivery in Metropolis meant Superman.

There were so many events going on in the Man of Steel's life, however, that he didn't have a lot of time. This was going to be a very busy year for him, but none of that mattered this early morning.

As Batgirl, she had briefly encountered Superman and she remembered being in awe at the way he seemed to radiate goodness and purity just with his gaze. It was the same way here as he gently floated down onto her balcony. "Ms. Gordon?" he asked as he stood at the glass door.

Barbara pulled her robe shut and felt silly about trying to cover up in front of someone with X-ray vision. "Lois said she had powerful friends," Barbara said as she opened the door. "Would you like some coffee?"

"I'm afraid I don't have time for that," he said as he handed over a package. "Lois assumed you would get a thrill out of this, but to be honest, this is more of an honor for me."

Barbara was taken aback. "I don't understand."

He took a deep breath, his massive chest with the familiar "S" heaving with the action. "I know what happened to you; Batman told me. I know that you are carrying the Joker's child and plan to have it despite the advice of your father. That takes courage; I don't think I could stand up to my father that way."

Blushing, Barbara turned her head away. "I'm just doing what I think is right."

"I know. That's what separates the super super-hero from the regular super-hero. You're sticking to your convictions and are willing to sacrifice everything you hold dear to give that small child a chance at life. There is no more noble cause."

She accepted the comment with humility and took the package to the table. "I'm no super-hero, at least not anymore. The Joker killed off any chance of there ever being a Batgirl again. I won't go back to Gotham. I won't have my child exposed to that sewer."

Superman came over and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. His grip made her imagine steel being shredded. "There may be other things you could do."

Was that an offer of some sort? What was he talking about she wondered. "I have a baby to look after…"

He glanced at her stomach. "Who appears fine, by the way. I'm no doctor but you'd be surprised how many women want Superman to reveal the sex of their child." They laughed and she told him she didn't want to know to let it be a surprise.

He started to walk back to the balcony. "Like I said, there are other things you can do. I'm thinking of establishing my own little family of sorts here in Metropolis. Batman has his and despite all of the bad things, I think its helped make Gotham a better place."

She started to disagree but thought different. "Sudden inspiration?"

He smiled and she felt herself get weak in the knees as she saw that jaw line. Thank God! she cried internally. Her libido was only hidden and scared, not driven away. "No; maybe I'm seeing things in a different light. You are part of the community, Barbara, and you've chosen to come into my territory. I'm not Batman; I don't want to control your life, but there is much good you could do."

He gave her a wink. "We'll talk again after the baby is born."

With a gratuitous "Up, up and away!" he was gone.

* * * * *

"Ms. Bertinelli, let's not beat around the bush," Jim Gordon said as he walked around the modest apartment. "I know you're the Huntress."

The raven-haired beauty shrugged her shoulders. "And? You're not Police Commissioner anymore."

Jim nodded and pulled out his cigarettes. She protested, but he lit up anyway and he noted a hint of satisfaction in her eyes. She didn't take to being coddled and chivalry probably wasn't the way to endear oneself to her heart. This was a woman of action, a woman who took pain and used it as an aphrodisiac. 

She was the daughter of a mob boss that had been killed several years before in the last bloody gang war before the super-villains took control. The Bertinelli's were old mob, going back to days when the first of them got off the boat in Gotham Harbor. Helena was the only survivor of the massacre that had taken out her entire family.

Raised in private schools paid for by mob money, she had returned to Gotham City only in the past year to become a high school teacher. As the Huntress, she had already killed and Jim knew it. He didn't need proof because, unlike the Batman, he didn't want to arrest her. 

He wanted to employ her.

"If I wanted you arrested, you'd be in prison trading that pretty ass for cigarettes and toilet paper," he said. She snorted and he gave her a look that told her that even though he wasn't a cop, he still had friends. "The Batman is looking for you."

"So?"

"He'll find you eventually and when he does, it's all over. Do not think for a second that you can outwit, outfight or outsmart the Batman. You can't." 

"Thanks for the warning," Helena said as she stood and straightened the too-short skirt. Her sexuality was her weapon and she knew it. She could tell that it had no effect on Gordon, but there was no sense in not trying to perfect her skills. "I'm a big girl now; I can take care of myself."

"Really? I found you real easy; of course I've been keeping tabs on you since you last left Gotham as a child. I didn't agree with what your father did for a living, but there was no need for the violence surrounding his death." He dumped an ash into the dark fireplace. "I'm offering you an opportunity to get your revenge."

"Already getting it, now go," she said.

Jim coughed. "I've formed a private company, the Oracle Group. We're a private criminal sanitization coalition."

"Excuse me?"

"A privately funded group of professional crime-fighters." He saw her eyebrow rise and he shook his head. "We're not killers. Though we will use deadly force as required."

She laughed at him and got into his face, taking the cigarette away from him and taking a long drag for herself. She blew the smoke in his face. "Bullshit."

"Why? Maxwell Lord privately funds the Justice League. The Teen Titans are supported by an endowment from S.T.A.R. Labs. I've already gotten approval from the governor. The legislature will fall into line soon enough." He took the cigarette back. "It's a reality. Think of it, Helena, all the resources you could ever want. Sanctioned hunts for the scum that want to make the city unsafe."

She moved over to the window and looked out. She had hoped to become the partner of the Batman but she soon discovered there was a huge difference between the man and the myth. To criminals, Batman was the harbinger of death, but up-close, he was a preachy bastard with an impressive physique. He had tried to make her quit, but she had blown him off.

Probably not the brightest thing in the world to do. "What will Batman say?"

"Batman is my problem. Your problem will be keeping up with the others. We're going to clean up this city. No more scare tactics. No more warnings. Criminals are going to either leave or be in pain. If they hurt an innocent, we will hurt them ten fold."

She looked at him. Was this really the famous James Gordon speaking to her? She had heard the story of his daughter's rape and her subsequent departure from Gotham City. There had to be something more to the story she was sure. "What about anything I might have done in the past."

Jim looked down at shoe leather. "It will be taken care of."

"Why me?"

"Because," he started, "you know pain and you know suffering." He didn't want to tell her the whole truth. He didn't want to say that she reminded him of his daughter.

"I'll think about it," she said.

He shrugged. "Don't think about it too long. The only way you can escape the Batman is to join with me."


	5. Chapter 5

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 5

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"No," Nightwing said, his arms folded over his chest. He stared out from behind his mask at the batman and the teenager in the modified Robin costume next to him. "It isn't going to happen."

Batman scowled and it almost seemed as if the shadows were drawn to him. The new Robin spoke up. "Look, I'm not trying to replace you…"

"You couldn't," Nightwing said to him and then he turned his attention back to the Batman. "Haven't you learned?"

"You don't come in here after all of this time and try to lecture me," Batman replied coldly. His former partner had not graced the Batcave in well over a year, not since before the assault on Barbara Gordon. He supposed he should have expected it when Tim Drake assumed the mantle of Robin, left vacant ever since the Joker had killed Jason Todd. "You seem to forget who is in charge here."

Nightwing laughed. "In charge? Not from what I've seen. The Oracle Group is running circles around you. I've heard the criminals talking; you're washed up. Face it, Bruce, you're losing your edge."

"That is doubtful and you certainly aren't anyone to judge. You lost the right to be Robin when you let the Joker shoot you," the Batman reminded him. Dick had been 19 when it occurred and it had been that decision that had started the rift between the two men. Six months afterwards, Dick had come up with the idea of Nightwing, basing the identity on his roots and Kryptonian myth. 

"Like you never got shot," Nightwing said, cutting through Batman's argument. He pointed to Tim. "Does he know about Jason? About Barbara? About the failed relationships? About us? Have you told this boy about the loneliness he'll face if he wears that costume?" Robin started top talk, but Nightwing kept on. "Tell him, Bruce! Tell him that he puts his loved ones in danger every time he puts that mask on?"

"But I want to make a difference," Robin blurted out. "I've seen how the Batman has been over the past year or so. I think its because he's all alone. When you two were together, you did great things."

"If you want to make a difference, be a cop; become a lawyer and then a judge. Run for elected office." Nightwing shook his head. "Don't do this."

"Again, Nightwing," Batman said, refusing to use his son's name, "it isn't your decision to make."

"I'm going to be Robin; you can't stop me!"

Nightwing stepped over and stood close to Robin. "If I catch you with that costume on, I'll break your arm. Go home, kid."

Batman stepped up and put a hand on Nightwing's arm. The younger hero moved back and then spun, grabbing the Dark Knight's wrist. Batman countered with his own move and the two began a dance of martial arts and wrestling holds. Robin simply stepped back and watched as father and son battled for supremacy.

Growing up, Tim Drake had determined that the first Robin was Dick Grayson after he had seen the hero perform a move that only a member of the Flying Graysons could have performed. Before he became Bruce Wayne's ward, Dick Grayson had been a circus performer with his parents.

When the second Robin and Batgirl had disappeared and the Oracle Group began its war on crime, Tim had noticed that the Batman had seemed suddenly ineffective and useless. He couldn't know that the man behind the cowl was fighting his own personal demons.

The Batman had watched as his son deserted him, a girl he considered a daughter lost her simple life and his best friend become someone else. The Oracle Group was made up of, currently, three super-heroes: Huntress, Catwoman and Obsidian. They were actively recruiting more and they were doing more to make Gotham City safe than the Batman ever had.

There was a reason, though. Their methods were brutal; even Catwoman seemed to have tapped into her darker side. Batman tried to intervene several times, but he was running into more and more resistance not just from the Oracle Group, but also from the local police. The citizens were tired of law and order and justice; they wanted to clean house and if it meant causing some permanent harm to some thugs, so be it. 

Batman realized that going at it alone was wearing him down and when Tim Drake offered to be his new partner, he had thought long and hard about it. He assumed that like Barbara Gordon, Tim would not take "no" for an answer and would just do it on his own.

He never thought that Nightwing would even care.

The two combatants were too evenly matched in skill, but Batman was the superior in strength and he eventually won out. "Ready to go again?" he asked.

Nightwing stared at him. "Bring another innocent into this hell you've created, then yes. I'll fight you every step of the way. No more, Bruce. For God's sake, a little baby is about to be born, a baby with a horrible legacy to live with. It stops now."

Batman shook his head. "This isn't a democracy; we don't vote on what's right and what's wrong. From the beginning I told you that it was my way."

"No, you told me we would do things right. It's too late for you and I and Barbara, but not for him." He inclined his head to Robin. "If you want to waste your life fighting this fight, then do it; don't let his hero worship cloud your judgment."

"You turned out fine," Batman said.

Nightwing laughed, but there was no joy in it. "Look at me! I'm a freak like you! I put on long underwear and find people to hit. I'm a trained killer with a moral code!"

"Then quit," Batman said, turning around. 

"I am."

Batman stopped and turned around. "What?"

"For awhile, at least. I have a friend that needs me. She doesn't need Nightwing. She doesn't need someone out there trying to put psychos back in a hospital so they can break out again." He pulled off his mask and Batman could see his eyes were red. "But so help me, if you think I'll stand by and watch you destroy another life…"

Batman was shaken, but he showed no outward sign of it. Inside, he was boiling in anger at himself. All of the fruits of his labors were spoiling. "Fine. No Robin."

"Wait!" Robin cried out, his voice cracking.

"He's right," Batman said. He then turned and marched into the shadows in the back of the cave, repeating that same line over and over. Robin looked at Nightwing and then tore the costume off, exiting the Batcave in the skin he was born with.

* * * * *

Nightwing slowly walked through the monitor area, careful not to disturb Changeling's nap. In the green glow of the monitors, his emerald skinned friend was almost invisible. Any other time he supposed he would have awaken his fellow Teen Titan, but tonight he didn't feel like being in complete control.

Kory was waiting in the small room he kept in Titan's Tower. She was dressed in only a bathrobe, busy fixing her nails. She had a photo shoot in the morning in Rio and would be gone for almost a week so long as the team didn't need her. She looked up at him, her large green eyes filled with pain.

Over the past few weeks, the two lovers had become distant, talking less and less, sleeping with each other only once. She had made the comment the day before that they were acting more like brother and sister instead of two people engaged. "Where have you been?" she asked in a tone that told him that she suspected Metropolis.

"I had a talk with Bruce," he said as he took off his mask and unzipped his shirt. "He was training a new Robin. I told him not to."

"Did he listen?"

"Yeah," he told her, not bothering to mention his decision to give up being Nightwing for the time being. He hadn't even discussed the matter with Donna Troy, the resident den mother of the Teen Titans. "Though I don't think it did our relationship very much good."

"You've been doing pretty good at destroying those lately," she said, standing up. She let the robe remain open and he cast a glance at her nude body. It was flawless, the color of copper and hairless; skin as smooth as a calm lake. Her figure was shaped like an eight, but rated as a ten. The gentle sway of her breasts, firm and large, used to arouse him immediately. He used to desire her taste, so exotic and alien.

Now he felt nothing. She saw that her body did nothing to him and started to weep as she pulled the robe closed. "What happened to us?"

He ran a hand through his hair. He felt so bad about this. He was losing everything in his life but at the same time he was gaining perspective. He wasn't in love with Kory anymore; he doubted if he ever was. She was sweet, beautiful and charming, but she wasn't…

She wasn't Barbara. Kory did not strive to overcome limitations, she struck out at them in Tamarran fashion. She didn't understand human emotions because she wasn't human. "I don't know. Maybe we just grew up. We're not teenagers anymore, Kory."

"So, that's all I was? A teenager's wet dream come to life?" Her anger was evident, that fiery temper taking control. He knew he had to calm her down because if not, she would start using her energy powers to blow holes in the Tower.

"No, but not every relationship is meant to be. I've got too many other things to worry about right now," he said.

She sneered. "What? That little redheaded bitch? She dumped you and I picked you up and now she waves her little magic wand and you go crawling back!"

"She's my friend!"

"So am I!"

"She's pregnant and all alone. She's been deserted by those who should be loving her!"

Kory was in a full-blown fit now he could see. Tendrils of energy were drifting towards the floor, setting off sparks as they burned through. "Just like me, Dick!"

He didn't dare turn his back on her and so he reached down to pick his shirt up. He would have to leave. "I'm sorry, Kory."

She started to say something, but then she just screamed and ignited in a bath of energy. The heat was incredible and Nightwing had to jump into the adjoining bathroom to keep from getting burned. There was an explosion of light and sound and the air was soon filled with choking blue smoke.

Changeling was at the doorway. "Hey! You guys okay?"

The fire alarm went off and the sprinklers activated as Nightwing got back up to his feet. He looked into the mess that had been his room and then to the giant hole in the ceiling that had been burned out as Kory had left. He could just make out the tail of her plume as she streaked into the night. 

The shower of water prevented Changeling from seeing the tears on his face. He wasn't crying for the end of the relationship, though; they were tears of joy. Despite himself, despite the fact that it was self-centered, he couldn't believe the feeling of weightlessness he had now that he had gotten through the break-up alive.

* * * * *

Barbara waddled into the kitchen to get another slice of the pie that Alfred had brought by. He was here every other day, helping out as best he could, but never saying a word about what was happening in Gotham City. He simply implied if she wanted to know, she should go there herself.

The best part though was how much time Dick was spending there and seeing him interact with Alfred told her a lot about how it must have been for him growing up. No wonder the Batman had become colder after Dick had left. Alfred and the former Robin were a riot in the way they carried on, but she could sense the genuine affection they had for each other.

The pie was good and the whipped cream was even better and she ended up eating the entire tub of that as well, washing it down with a tall glass of mineral water. As she sat alone at her table, belching like a drunken sailor and scratching at her belly, worrying about stretch marks, she considered her life at that moment.

The baby was due in another month and she still hadn't reconciled with her father. From working at the _Daily Planet_ she knew about the Oracle Group and her father's new war on crime. Subsequently she had found out that sightings of the Batman were down as well, as if he were trying to figure out where his place was at now in the Neo-Gotham Jim Gordon was creating. When the new Robin had been reported, she had noticed Dick getting very upset about it.

Thankfully, there had not been a peep out of the Joker, which was ironic since she knew that he was the one person her father was hoping would break out of Arkham. Instead, by all accounts, the Joker was becoming a model inmate, attending all of his counseling sessions and avoiding contact with most of his peers. Odd behavior for him, but then he was insane after all, wasn't he?

Jason Bard, her ex-husband, had finally stopped by. Their divorce after only six months of marriage had left them both bitter and hurt. He had been in Metropolis attending a convention of model train collectors of all things, a new hobby he had confessed.

They had spent the afternoon talking and going over the things that had gone wrong between them. She had made a full confession to him. "Sometimes, when I'm alone, I have to wonder how different my life would have turned out if we would have just broken up instead of trying marriage," she had said. 

Jason had shrugged. "Would it have made any real difference? Would your life be so different now?"

She shrugged in reply. "Would I have gone back to live with my dad if I hadn't been so hurt after our divorce? Maybe I would have done something else. Then maybe I would have been in the house that night."

"Maybe in some other reality, some parallel world, we didn't get married," he said. "But I can't imagine you not going back home. Face it, babe, you're a homebody through and through. If I was going to be think of possibilities, then I would be considering how my life would be if that bullet had nailed my spine."

Barbara had rubbed her stomach. "I don't want to even think about that."

Jason had remained quiet for several minutes and then pointed to her swollen belly. "You really love that kid, don't you? How can you?"

"Because I have to believe that out of every wrong think, God has a good purpose. This baby has to be good." She looked away and he saw that her bottom lip was trembling.

He tried to lighten the mood. "I noticed that Dick has been here a lot. I thought he was dating the super-model."

"He is."

Jason gave her a wry look. "Sure. Guy has a super-model girlfriend and he spends his time with the redheaded marshmallow."

"That's why we couldn't stay married," she had said, indicating his poor sense of humor. He had left very soon afterwards and she was sure it would be the last time she would ever see him. It had been a courtesy, a way to put some closure to her past.

She had meant what she said; getting married had been a mistake. It had been rebellion against her nature and it had proven to be a very expensive failure in terms of emotional payment. It had forced her to become limited in her social contacts; dating was definitely out. Because she never intended to date, she never bothered to get on birth control.

The baby kicked and she guessed that the whipped cream didn't agree with it. She didn't know the sex but she felt strongly it was a boy. It kicked like a boy.

She did believe that it had to be something good; it was the only true reason she had kept the child. Time and time again she found herself picking up her keys to go to an abortion clinic. Eventually, she decided she couldn't do that.

She would often wonder if she was so lonely that she was having this child so she could have a friend. After all, this was a constant reminder of the rape she suffered. Yet every time the baby kicked, rolled or shuffled, she couldn't help but smile. Something told her everything was going to be okay.

Dick entered through the balcony five minutes later. He wasn't talkative and she was worried that something major was wrong. She assumed it had to do with the Batman. "Dick…argh!" she cried out and fell to her knees. Her body, bloated with life giving fat and water, left her off-balance and she started to fall.

The strong arms of Dick Grayson caught her and held her. Through the pain she looked up and saw the face of that young boy who had stolen her heart over a decade before. "What is it?" he said. There was real fear in his voice and she understood why. This was the Joker's child and thoughts of a deformed devil trying to claw its way from the womb briefly crossed her mind as well. 

"I don't know…ahhhhh!" she screamed again and her hands went to her belly. "Oh, God! Dick, I think my water broke!"  


	6. Chapter 6

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 6

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"Push!" 

"Go to hell you mother fucker!"

Dick Grayson stepped back from Barbara and she smiled behind the veil of sweat and tears that covered her face. "Sorry, just a little suppressed rage." She pushed again, working with the rhythm to get her baby out into a world that didn't seem very inviting.

The doctor, seated between Barbara's legs and at the end of the hospital bed, gave a small laugh. "Is he a former boyfriend?'

"Ahhh! Yes!" The former Batgirl gripped the handrails and put on her war face. So horrid it was to behold that Dick found himself looking away. Instead, he peered down to where the baby was supposed to be coming out.

"Why does it hurt so bad!" she roared. 

"This is normal, Barbara," the doctor called out, not bothering to look up. She nodded to a nurse and Dick briefly wondered if they were simply saying these things to keep Barbara calm. Bloody nail scratches in his arm told him they were not doing a very good job.

He expected the worse. This was, after all, the child of the Joker, a man who had bathed in a chemical bath that should have killed him. He had read the reports of the Joker's genetic structure. His DNA was flawed; his brain chemistry couldn't be specified. He was a walking genetic garbage dump.

Even before he had become the Joker, Jack Napier had been a nobody. A failed comedian and even worse crook. He had even been married once. Dick had learned all of this from a copy of the Joker's latest psychological examinations. Much to everyone's surprise, especially Jim Gordon, the Joker seemed to be responding to his treatment.

Over the past eight months, every inmate at the Arkham Asylum had broken out at least once. All of them except the Joker. Dick was sure it was part of some complicated scheme, but he hadn't been able to focus much upon it.

The baby was early by at least a month and he knew it would not bode well. "Easy, Babs," he said in his best soothing voice. It was strange that he of all people would be here this day. For most women, this was the day they waited for most of their lives. How terrible Barbara must have felt when she looked in the room and saw only doctors and nurses and a former boyfriend.

Barbara felt the pain and tried to force her mind to go somewhere else. She succeeded in concentrating on other things besides the pain and worry and allowed her body to do the rest. Somewhere deep in her DNA, some higher intelligence had put in a program that let her know what to do now instinctively. It was simply annoying listening to people tell her what to do when she was already doing it!

She cast a glance at Dick and again wondered why he was even here. Did he care about her more than what she thought? Jason had thought so and even Lois had made mention of it. Could their old feelings be coming to the surface in the wake of the pregnancy?

Being pregnant gave you a different perspective on life. Aside from retaining water, peeing all of the time and wondering which part of your body was going to ache next, you started to become philosophical. Barbara had turned to the Bible, had put her faith in God when it seemed everything else had failed; was this her reward for her faith?

He squeezed her hand and something electric seemed to pass between them. Why was he here? The question was driving her mad but was also giving her a center to focus on during the current situation. Where was Kory at? 

She couldn't even begin to guess. Maybe Tammarans didn't have children like humans and the entire idea was disgusting to her. 

She grunted and let loose a roar. Why the hell did she care if Kory was there or not?

"You're doing great, Barbara," the doctor called out from between her legs. She resisted making a smart comment and tried concentrating on something else.

She wished her father was here, wished with all of her heart that the rift between them could be mended by this blessed event. It wasn't going to happen and she was starting to wonder if she and her father would ever speak again.

He was spiraling down; his Oracle Group was nothing more than hyper-powered thugs and vigilantes and it was only a matter of time before they killed. Why was the thought of her having a baby driving him to such lengths?

Why was it changing everything?

"A baby does change everything, dear," Lois had told her only a few weeks before. "People realize that something new is coming into the world, something never seen before. It frightens some people and turns other people into jelly. A baby signifies a continuation of something, never the end."

Barbara had supposed that might have been the problem. If the Joker's bullet had paralyzed her, then it would all be over. Now it would never be.

"I see a head!" Dick cried out and he squeezed her hand so hard that she yelled out in pain. He didn't seem to be in shock and she saw a look of true surprise and happiness to his face. She prayed to God, hoping against hope the child didn't have green hair.

After several more minutes of instruction and cursing, Barbara felt the child leave her and she held her breath. There was the smack and the cry. Her ears strained for fear that the child would burst out into hyena-like laughter. 

The cry was normal. Tear of joy started to rain down her face. "It's a boy!" Dick cried out. 

The doctor handed the baby over to a waiting nurse and Barbara tried to see her son. Did it have the horns and wings of the Devil as her father had stated he would? It was no good as the nurse whisked the baby over to a table for cleaning. The doctor reassured Barbara. "He looks as healthy as a horse, especially for being a few weeks premature."

Dick nodded to her and she put her head back. "We have to get the placenta now," the doctor said. Barbara tried to force it out, but it wouldn't come. The doctor began working around down there and Barbara started feeling cold again. 

"Mr. Grayson, get out!" the doctor ordered.

Two nurses moved in to help the doctor while another one pulled at Dick. He didn't want to go and he protested. Barbara began to turn pale, paler than she had been and it was then that he noticed the blood. 

The doctor's eyes told him everything he needed to know and Dick had to fight to maintain control. He did not want to leave but he knew he had to. A part of him was dying as he felt he was abandoning his friend. His former partner. His previous lover.

The woman he had fallen in love with all over again.

"Oracle Group," the receptionist announced as she answered the incoming line. A voice on the other end coughed.

"Is Mr. Gordon in?"

The receptionist pulled out the pad with the call slips and clicked her ink pen. "Mr. Gordon is in conference with his senior staff, may I take a message."

The voice was direct. "I need to speak to him immediately. It concerns his daughter."

"I'm sorry, but as I said…"

"Miss, if you don't put him on the phone and he finds out what I have to say later, I assure you that you will be looking for new employment very shortly." He coughed again. "Now get Gordon on the damn phone."

The receptionist nervously put the man on hold and got up from the front desk. She hurried by the cubicles of young detectives that handled the simple tasks of the Oracle Group and made her way to a door marked "Private".

She had barely knocked before opening the door. Inside, Jim Gordon sat at the head of the table that was filled with a variety of colorful costumed characters. Next to Jim was the Huntress, the woman who looked upon the older man with complete awe. The rumors surrounding the two of them went from a father-daughter type relationship to one where he spanked her until she cried out "Daddy". There were others as well, including the brooding Obsidian, a man who made her shiver whenever she looked at him.

Catwoman sat farthest away, filing her nails and looking unhappy as usual. She was only part of the group to keep from going to jail. Next to her sat the mercenary Deathstroke. The mercenary had recently run afoul of the Oracle members and the meeting was about establishing better relations. 

Jim looked up. "Yes?"

"Sir, there is a phone call for you. The man on the other end says it's about…" She glanced at the Huntress and then back to Jim. "Your daughter, sir."

A palatable silence came down over the room. Of all of them, only Deathstroke seemed unaffected, but then he wasn't concerned with local family politics. Jim considered not going to the phone, but he knew he could not be bitter. Helena had been telling him that maybe it would be best if he tried to accept the situation.

He stood up and both he and the receptionist exited the room. Huntress made to get up and Catwoman made a snide remark. By the time the Huntress was able to get out a response, Jim was down the hall and entering his office. A red light was blinking on his phone.

He paused before answering. Who could it be? Jason had called a few weeks back and had seemed truly apologetic that Jim and Barbara were not talking. There was not much to say; Jim had never liked him very much anyway.

Perhaps Bruce was finally coming out of his shell. He had been avoiding Barbara completely since the rape and Jim could not guess why. Of course, his relationship with the Batman was becoming frayed on the edges anyway. The Batman simply wasn't the man Jim had thought him to be. There was a time when Jim had thought the law was right and that all life was worth protecting.

He knew otherwise now. If you didn't eliminate the parasites of society, they simply multiplied and dragged down the innocent as they did so. 

More than likely it was young Grayson, trying to get Jim to fix the broken relationship. He picked up the phone. "This is Gordon."

"Jimmy! Hey, hey!" the Joker said. The voice pierced through Jim's soul and struck him cold. He had not heard from the Clown prince since the Batman apprehended him eight months before.

"You fucking bastard! How dare you call me!" Jim screamed into the phone.

"Whoa! Listen to your language," the Joker said in mock horror. "Here I was calling you with the good news!"

"What? Your execution date?"

The Joker laughed at the comment. "No…I'm a daddy! And you get to be grandpa!"

Jim started shaking. "How…"

"Got a buddy at the hospital, told me Red was wheeled in a couple of hours ago with some guy. I almost got jealous, I tell ya." The Joker waited for a moment. "Jim?"

"I'll kill you…" Jim whispered and he felt the numbness going up his arm. He tried to put the phone down, but some macabre compulsion prevented him from doing so. 

"Oh, you had your chance to do that quite a few times, buddy, but you didn't." The Joker laughed. "They say I'm responding well to treatment, you know that?"

Jim couldn't speak; a dull pain that was now centering over his heart was now replacing the numbness. He made a few gasping noises. "Speechless, eh? Well, tell you what, the first chance I get, I'll arrange a family portrait!"

Five minutes later, the Huntress entered to find Jim sprawled on the floor, maniacal laughing sounding from the receiver gripped in his hand.


	7. Chapter 7

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 7

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"How is she?"

Dick turned around and regarded the man who had raised him. There were dark circles under his eyes and he thought he detected a hint of silver at the temples. His gaze was tired but his manner was like that of a wound spring. "She'll live, but she won't have children again," Dick responded before turning back to the sleeping Barbara.

"Did the doctors tell you what happened?"

The younger man shook his head. "I'm not family; they can't release medical information to me. It was bad, though, whatever it was. She nearly bled out and…" he started to shake. His hand went up to the bridge of his nose as if he could pinch away the tears. "I could only watch…again…"

Bruce Wayne put a hand on his son's shoulder. If there was anyone in this world that would understand the pain of watching someone die, it was he. Nearly three decades before he had watched his own parents bleed to death in the rain after a gunman had shot them during a botched robbery. "I would have come by sooner, but Gotham has been…occupying a lot of my time." It was as close to an apology as Dick was likely to get. "You were right about Robin."

Dick shrugged. "I don't care if I was right, as long as nobody else dies." He turned again to face his father. "I love her, Bruce."

"We all do; she's a special lady and she's taken more than her share of pain." He looked around the room. "The child?"

Dick nodded. "He's fine. She hasn't named him yet but I heard her talking once about calling him James after her father." There was a look of deep hurt on Dick's face and Bruce realized that Jim Gordon's absence must have been devastating to Barbara. He didn't know if he had the will to let Dick in on the bad news.

Somebody had to he supposed. "Jim Gordon had a heart attack a couple of hours ago. He's in Gotham Memorial in critical condition."

"Good God!" Dick whispered. "It's like someone put a bad luck spell on this family. Is he going to be okay?"

Bruce shrugged and stepped over to look down at the sleeping Barbara. He put a hand to her forehead and pushed away a lock of hair. She looked so peaceful, so happy when she was asleep. How many times had he looked in on her during her career as Batgirl to find her tucked away in her bed, able to put the demons of the night behind her? How he had been jealous of her for being able to do that.

There were other feelings as well, feelings he kept buried deep. Admiration for her spirit, for willingness to find the good in the bad, something he had never been able to do. Her respected her determination when she decided that nobody was going to keep her from protecting the innocent life inside of her. There was also a twinge of something else, something he often did not dwell upon. 

He could recall a quick feeling; a sensation rather, when her eyes would look at him and something unspoken would pass between them. Something more than respect. Then he would remember his son and his defenses would fall into place. He would find some way to distance himself from the alluring young woman. It was the way things had to be.

"It's good that you're staying with her," Bruce finally said and then he remembered Dick's question. "I don't know. The Huntress hasn't left his side and I can't get in."

"You're not intimidated by her are you?" Dick asked.

"No; I just don't think getting into a pissing match in Jim's hospital room is going to be of any use." He put his hands in his pockets and Dick noted that the suit was an older one, out of style. Had Alfred been spending too much time with Barbara? It was obvious Bruce was dressing himself. "Jim is the name of the child?"

"I don't know;" Dick said stepping a little closer. There was something deeply wrong with his father but he knew the man would not speak to him about it. Maybe it had to do with the Oracle Group. Dick's informants had been whispering to him that the Batman's reputation had been suffering ever since Gordon had let loose his personal police force. That had to be wearing the Batman down. No wonder he was looking for a partner. "Look, what I said about giving up being Nightwing…it's only temporary…"

"But, you want to live here in Metropolis," Bruce said with a weak smile. "You want to be with her." He turned again and looked at her face and he envied his son for the briefest of moments. Dick noticed the sudden change come over Bruce and knew that something had just happened to trigger his defensive responses. Bruce stood a little taller and his voice was slightly deeper. 

The Batman had taken over. "I hope we can speak some more about this some time. As always, the Cave is there for your use."

"Thanks, I'll…"

"I need to get back to Gotham." Bruce then stepped closer and there was an awkward silence between the two of them. They were speaking, but they hadn't mended any fences either. It didn't seem appropriate to hug or even shake hands. Sensing his son's discomfort, Bruce nodded and then left the room.

Dick wanted to go after him, wanted to put the past behind them. He realized that Bruce was dying on the inside. The past few months had been nothing but pain and misery for all of them and it was at times like this that you needed your family. As much as Barbara wanted her father in her life, Dick wanted his.

He had a choice and one quick glance at Barbara made up his mind. Slowly, he moved back to his chair, promising himself that he and Bruce would get together and fix things. Right now, she needed him and she would need him even more once the news of her father's heart attack reached her ears.

Still, he didn't feel right and a dark mood settled over him. He wondered if this was how the Batman felt all of the time. 

He didn't like the feeling at all.

"How is he?"

Helena turned around to regard Selina Kyle. In the dim light of the hospital room, the casual observer would mistake them for sisters. Both were tall, dark-haired beauties with a fire in their eyes that made them seem exotic and foreign. Both knew the dark side of the law and had roots deep in it. 

Both of them were lethal weapons, though Selina, as the Catwoman, tended to be much more restrained than the younger Helena. They also shared a taste for powerful men, each drawn to the magnetism of dark charisma. Helena had found herself involved with her employer, a man who's inner strength was not just enticing, it was the stuff fantasy novels were written about.

Selina, on the other hand, preferred her men closer to her own age and much more muscular. She was one of the few women in the world who could say she bedded the Bat and it was much to her sadness. Once you had a man like that, all others failed in comparison and Selina knew that if she didn't end up with the man in the cape and cowl of Batman, she might as well switch to women.

No man could match him.

"He's resting," Helena said as she put her hand on his forehead. Selina recognized the look on Helena's face. All of the love that the Huntress had inside of her for a strong male, be it a father, brother or even boyfriend, was being given freely to Jim Gordon. It made sense in a way she supposed. Jim was estranged from his daughter, alone since his wife died; he needed to be needed. They fed off of each other. The sex was just commentary. "The doctors think he'll pull through."

"He's strong," Selina commented. "Obsidian did a trace on the phone call; it was the Joker like you thought."

"I think it's time we paid him a visit, Oracle-style," Helena muttered. She kept her voice low on purpose; Selina did not see things quite the way the more conservative members of the group did. 

"I wouldn't recommend it," she said, reminding Helena that they were deputized by the governor and therefore had to obey all applicable state laws. "He didn't do anything but make a phone call. Go in there with guns blazing and we'll lose our charter. What would that do to Jim?"

Helena said nothing for a moment. "You're right, of course, but one day, that bastard will slip up and when he does, I'm going to make sure it's a righteous shoot."

Selina shrugged and stepped a little closer. Jim Gordon had offered her the chance to get a second chance after the Batman had caught her in a very major jewel theft. The theft had been nothing more than a reason to get the Batman's attention; she had noticed he had been acting odd for several weeks, especially after the Gordon girl had been shot. In her haste, she had made a mistake. 

Still by the book no matter what, Batman had turned her over to the state police, who then had turned her over to the Oracle Group. Recruitment was tough; not many professional crime fighters wanted to live in Gotham City and so Jim had reasoned that maybe a few non-violent criminals might want some redemption. Selina had hoped it would get her closer to the Batman so she could find out what was wrong, but he seemed to be even more distant once she joined up.

The Oracle Group was not a pleasant place. Jim Gordon was a man on a mission to rid Gotham of crime. The Huntress and Obsidian were well-schooled in the art of the application of deadly force as it was stated in the law and criminals were now more scared of Oracle members then of the Batman. Batman would not kill; Oracle Group would.

Six weeks into the Group, Selina had seen a young teenager pull a gun on Obsidian. The dark clad man, who claimed to be the son of the original Green Lantern, used his dark powers to freeze the boy's soul, literally. His cape had swung over the punk, there was a scream, and a chalk-white body then lay at Obsidian's feet. 

The state police had ruled it justifiable; the boy had threatened to shoot Obsidian.

Batman would have taken the gun out with a batarang and the boy would still be alive. Selina had hoped to be a calming influence in the Group, but she was seen more as a nuisance because she demonstrated compassion. "Has he been by?"

"The Bat? No, but I guess that is to be expected." Helena continued to stroke Jim's head. "He's not as great as you think he is."

"And you're not as good as you think you are," Selina replied. "He'll be by."

"Over my dead body."

"What is it with you and him?" Selina asked. "He's Jim's best friend."

Helena laughed. "Was his best friend. The Bat had his place at one time, back when the rules were different. Now these madmen think we're their personal torture toys. We are the future."

"We would be more effective if we all worked together instead of working against him. He's got the most experience with the Joker…"

"You mean he's let the Joker off too easy more than anyone else," Helena responded. She leaned over and gave Jim a kiss on the forehead and walked Selina to the door. "You don't belong here. You don't belong in the Oracle Group."

"It's not your decision to make," Selina said. "If it makes you feel any better, though, I'm quitting."

"Good. This job requires more than what you have to give," Helena said. She looked back to Jim. "He believed in you. Walk the straight and narrow; don't make us come after you."

Selina smiled at the threat and she got a brief flash of her fist hitting Helena's face. She wanted to say something more, have the last word, but she didn't. Helena was making her power move and with Obsidian supporting her, there was really nothing Selina could do about it. She would have to bide her time.

"Tell him I hope he gets well soon," Selina said.

"I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

Selina left the room and let the door close softly. A shadow moved down the hallway: Obsidian. He was keeping an eye on Jim. Selina took that as a good sign; at least he wasn't at the Arkham Asylum, choking the Joker.

She made her way to the hospital lobby and stopped by a pay phone. She dialed a toll-free number and waited for the other end to pick up. "I'm out."

"You didn't belong with them. I'm glad." The voice sounded tired and there was static; he was on a cell phone. "I don't know how much good it will do."

"I'm free tonight," she said. "In fact, I'm free every night now."

There was some hesitation. "I…

She couldn't believe how different he had become. He was questioning everything he was doing. "It's time to put your cards on the table." There was some silence. "It's Talia, isn't it?" she asked, referring to the daughter of Ra's Al Ghul.

"No…I'm just not sure…"

She continued to coax him until he gave her and address to meet him at. She knew it quite well, having cased the property in her criminal days. It was no surprise; Bruce Wayne had always been on her short list of suspects.


	8. Chapter 8

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 8

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"You are served," the man said, handing Barbara the manila envelope. She cursed at him, as it appeared to be the proper thing to do and he replied with a middle finger.

She closed the door to her apartment, ignoring Dick's call as to what was going on and opened the envelope. She couldn't imagine why a process server was visiting her and her curiosity was overriding her good manners. She pulled out the papers even as Dick entered the foyer with little James in his arms. "Your baby is wet," he said, trying to get her attention. He noticed her hands were shaking and he was suddenly very confused.

He needed to put James down, but the baby always cried when left alone. That was the only problem any of the doctors could find, if that was really a problem. James was a baby that simply loved to be around other people. His favorite, of course, was his mother, followed by, much to Dick's chagrin, Alfred Pennyworth, the former butler of Bruce Wayne. Then came Dick.

In the year since James's birth, things had changed so much for all of them. Batman had a new partner in Gotham City; a black-haired woman called Batwoman and Dick was pretty sure that it was the former Catwoman. Selina Kyle was spending a lot of time at Wayne Manor now and Dick wasn't sure whether or not he approved. Certainly, Bruce's attitude had changed because of it. But then again, so had the Batman's.

Gotham City was a place transformed, especially since Jim Gordon had recovered from his heart attack. With the Catwoman no longer part of the Oracle Group, Huntress and Obsidian had nothing to hold them back. Just three months before, the Riddler had been taken down, permanently, when he had pulled a knife on the Huntress. According to Dick's contacts in the Gotham underworld, she hadn't even blinked.

In fact, crime was very rare in Gotham City. People were no longer afraid to go out at night because of muggers; they feared breaking any law and having Obsidian step out of the shadows. There were unconfirmed stories that he had taken to attacking citizens for offenses such as littering. None of this was confirmed because the GCPD thought it was great. Jim Gordon was finally cleaning up Gotham and the governor was using the city as a model for his anti-crime platform.

Dick was so happy he had decided to remain in Metropolis with Barbara. After she had recovered from James's birth, Dick had poured his heart out to her, telling her the truth about his feelings for her that he had hidden for so long. She had nodded, smiled in all the right places and then patted his hand. "That's nice, Dick, but do you think I could possibly see my son now?"

After leaving the hospital, she had invited him to move in on a trial basis. Within six months, they were sharing the same bed. Now they were sharing the same butler. "Let me take Master James, sir," Alfred said as he entered. Dick nodded and handed the child over before going to his girlfriend's aid. 

She looked at him and he saw genuine fear in her eyes. He wondered if that was the look she had given the Joker the night he had raped her. She handed the papers over and he scanned them. His own jaw dropped. "No fucking way," he said. Barbara was surprised to hear him curse. She cursed, but he never did no matter what.

As if to punctuate the statement, he shook his head. "No fucking way."

The Batman dropped into a crouch, the Batwoman close behind in her yellow and red costume. She started to fall forward slightly and he reached out for her. She was steadied by his grip, just as she had steadied his life with her presence. He nodded to her and they slowly stood up. The security cameras had already been bypassed and Batwoman almost laughed; the security cameras were always being bypassed here at Arkham Asylum.

This particular weekend was supposed to be spent in passionate lovemaking on a small Greek island. Unfortunately, a phone call from Dick Grayson had changed all of that. She knew that Bruce and Dick were working on their relationship, but she couldn't help but think that Dick resented her being Batman's new partner. 

Batman started walking through the passageway, looking straight ahead. Had he turned either left or right, he would have seen the eyes of what were once some of his greatest foes looking with mocking stares. Batwoman followed close behind; she saw what could be described as betrayal when they gazed upon her. She was a traitor to their ranks, first when she joined the Oracle Group and second when she teamed up with Batman. 

Nothing was said, none of the normal catcalls and whistles that were so often characteristic of such a place. Arkham was much more subdued now, but it had nothing to do with the quality of treatment. The ranks of the insane had been thinned out; the Huntress was taking no prisoners. Where the Batman made threats, the Huntress carried them out.

But worse than the painful death that the Huntress promised them if they didn't behave was the agonizing life Obsidian granted. The spectral hero had even bested the Scarecrow in a battle of wills. There was a rumor going around that Obsidian's father, the original Green Lantern, had tried to reign in his son. The elder hero had not been seen in public for over six months and Obsidian's sister, the green-skinned Jade, had trying to petition the Justice League to look into the matter. Gotham, however, was still considered off-limits by the League.

They stopped in front of one cell and Batman hesitated. It held Pamela Isley, the villain Poison Ivy. Her sobs could be heard from inside and Batwoman knew that Bruce Wayne had a small soft spot for the crimson-haired eco-terrorist. Ivy wasn't as evil as the others in this building, just simply confused about what form of life was worth saving. If she were willing to put the dedication she showed plant life towards human life, the world would most likely be a better place.

Still, Ivy was a killer and killers had to be prosecuted and punished. Ivy's unique state made her a true enigma as to whether or not she was genuinely responsible for her actions. There was no way for her to escape and she was being kept away from her precious plants. The word was that any time she tried to grow even the smallest weed, Obsidian would come walking out of the shadows and crush it.

They continued on until they came to an all too-familiar place. Batman opened the door with his own key he had made several months before. Inside, the Joker sat in the grey coveralls of an inmate, reading a book. Batwoman saw it was "Lord of the Flies".

The Joker looked up and smiled. "Batman and…is that you, kitty-kitty?" He set the book down and stood up. "I was just to the part where they dropped the boulder on poor Piggy. Would you like me to read to you?"

"This isn't a joke," Batman said coldly.

The Joker snickered. "You can cut out the act, Bats! You're old hat…you don't scare me, not that you ever did. But all of that is in the past now. I've been responding to treatment."

"You're suing for visitation rights. You must be insane," Batwoman said.

"On the contrary, my record for the past two years is exemplary…"

"Like calling Jim Gordon and giving him a heart attack?" Batman asked.

"Did I develop mental powers? Can I cause cardiac arrest just by speaking? If so, Batman, I assure you I would have used that ability to my best advantage years ago." He sat back down and crossed his legs. His manners and speech indicated someone in full control of their emotions, but the Batman did not believe it. He was sure this was an act, part of an elaborate ruse. "I would like to see my son."

"You lost your right!" Batwoman hissed.

"Actually, I didn't. Maybe in other states or countries I would have, but we have some very liberal laws on the books, dear, despite the best efforts of our current governor." He looked very proud of himself as he was speaking and Batman guessed Harvey Dent, also known as Two-Face, had coached him. "I'm requesting supervised visitation, under the watchful eye of my doctor."

"And your doctor thinks this is a good idea?" Batman asked.

"Dr. Quinn understands me, Batman, in a way that nobody ever has. True, I'm her very first patient, but she just seems to be able to unlock the doors of my mind…"

"Trapdoors is more like it!"

The Joker laughed, but it seemed forced. "Oh, kitty-kitty, you always were the clever one. I envy you, Batman; she's a fine specimen. Good childbearing hips on her and believe me, I know a lot about women's hips. In fact, I consider myself an expert on the female body."

"You bastard!" Batwoman stepped forward, but Batman held her back with an extended arm. 

He stepped up and leaned down at the Joker. "Stop this now."

"No. He's my son. I'm responding to treatment; that's why I'm here…to get better, to contribute to society." Batwoman remarked that as soon as he was better, he would go to prison. "Perhaps," he responded, "perhaps not. That, however, does not make my parental rights any less legitimate."

"You will regret this," Batman warned him.

Joker stood up and got nose-to-nose with his adversary. Batman looked deep into the madman's green eyes and couldn't get a read on anything. Whatever the Joker was up to, it was grand in scale and was occupying his every waking thought. That did not make the Caped Crusader feel comfortable. "You mean like how you are? How you punish yourself for not protecting Jim Gordon or his daughter? I don't get you, Bats; when I was sick I killed hundreds, yet when I create a life, you get all weird and lose control of Gotham." He licked his lips. "Is that it? Did I shatter your reality, Batman? The Joker can only kill, not create; that is how God can justify having someone like me here, isn't it? I'm just like you. I can fuck and make babies. I'm a well-hung stallion! Hey, maybe that's your problem…maybe Batman can't get it up! Tell me, Selina, are you on the pill? Surely you and the Bat are rolling in the kitty litter. No bats in your belfry I bet!"

Batman shoved him back into his chair and then reached down, putting his hand around the Joker's throat. It would only taker a small amount of pressure to crush the windpipe. "Do it!" the Joker said. "At least then everyone will know you have some balls still!"

The Batman's arm began shaking as he stood poised on the edge. Batwoman's voice brought him back. "He's not worth it."

"Batman fires blanks! Nutless faggot!" The Joker gave another squeak that may have been the beginnings of another insult, but the Batman applied more pressure. Batwoman put her hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ear. A moment later, Batman released his grip.

"Your time is over, Caped Doofus," the Joker said after taking several large breaths. "The entire underworld knows that you're soft. You won't stand up to Gordon and you won't even punish me for violating your ex-partner!" The Joker noted Batman's sudden change in stance; it was the first time he had ever seen his foe in shock. "That's right…Bruce," the Joker laughed.

"It doesn't change anything. If you know who I am then you know the resources I have at my disposal. Leave Barbara alone." 

"Why? Jealous that I got what you wanted? They say I'm crazy but momma didn't raise a fool! There's more here than meets the eye!" The Joker settled back into his chair and picked up his book. "You've got issues, Bats, you need to deal with them. I'll give you the name of my doctor, she's pretty good. Oh, don't worry about your secret…I'm not telling anyone. It wouldn't do any good anyway, would it?"

"No, it wouldn't."

"Just think how uncomplicated your life would be if you would just kill me," the Joker mused aloud. Then he started reading again. "Poor Piggy…damn shame. The boy had such potential…"

Twenty minutes later, Batwoman asked Batman about the Joker's comments. "Did anything he say hit the truth? Were you in love with Batgirl?"

Batman adjusted the windshield wipers of the Batmobile as it began to sprinkle. "We were very close for a time, that's all."

She could here the pain in his voice. How many demons did the man she love carry? How many ghosts and how many dashed dreams. Nobody should have to carry the emotional burden that he did. "How close?"

"I'd prefer not to say. You don't like to discuss your time as a prostitute," he said, caution in his voice. She understood she was on the boundary of his defenses.

"That's because I'm ashamed about it."

"Then you understand."

"No, I don't. Not completely anyway," she said as she pulled her cowl down. Her eyes sparkled in the light coming off of the instrument panel and for a moment, Batman's heart skipped a beat as he not only saw, but also _felt_ her beauty. This was someone he could open up to and she was offering no-strings attached opportunity to do so.

"The Joker was right when he said that I never expected him to have children, that the idea of him spawning sickens me just as it does Jim. Unlike Jim, though, I refuse to allow my anger and regret consume me." He sighed and turned the headlamps on bright as the entered the outskirts of the Wayne property. "I can't help my friend and I'm afraid that my presence around the child will only bring, somehow, my enemies upon him. Dick was right, I've pulled too many innocents into this fight…"

"Including yourself?"

He nodded and then swallowed. He felt warm all over and his mind was shrieking for him to be quiet, to internalize his pain. "Barbara and I had a…relationship that went beyond being partners."

"Serious?"

"Serious enough. Dick was gone. Jason was, well, being Jason. Barbara was intelligent, outgoing, beautiful…"

"Awestruck by the man in the leather cape and cowl? Yes, dear, I've been down that road. But she's so much younger…" she stopped mid-sentence. She wasn't that much older than Barbara.

"It was…a strong temptation, one that I did not give in to," he said as they turned onto an abandoned road that would eventually lead into the Batcave. "I wanted to."

"More willpower than Green Lantern," she chided him, secretly relieved that she didn't have another former lover to compete against. "How did she take it?"

"Pretty well, considering she tried to seduce me."

"Really?"

He shrugged. "It was a one-time thing and even though I refused, we were…closer after that. I think I was just…"

"Horny? Normal? Bruce, you maybe the Batman with the costume off but out of it you're just a man. A younger, attractive woman makes a pass at you, a woman with whom you already have a bond…neither of you are attached…" Batwoman laughed and ran a hand through her hair. "All I know is if it had been me I wouldn't have taken no for an answer."

"If I remember correctly, you didn't," Batman replied. "Barbara was different. I can't explain it."

"Innocence. She was innocent. She had a crush on you and it appealed to you on a level that you didn't know was there. Your sense of chivalry prevented you from taking advantage of it, even though your body was craving it." Batman nodded his head as she spoke. "I suppose the Joker does have a point then. I mean, potentially, Barbara could have been your…girlfriend?"

The side of the mountain in front of them opened up, providing them entrance into the Batcave. Batman slowed down as he made his way through the treacherous driveway to the inner sanctum. "That's a long shot, but a possibility, I suppose." The Batmobile finally came to a stop and they got out. Both of them started to shed their uniforms, only this time the Batman costume was thrown onto the Cave floor.

"Bruce?"

He turned to her. "I can't do this anymore. I'm tired of the pain, of the hurt, of the threats, of the broken relationships and broken hearts. I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself every time I see Jim. I'm not effective anymore. I've lost my city." She came up and took him into her arms. "I look in the mirror everyday and I don't see the person I was when Barbara was so fascinated with me. I don't see the man who took in Dick and Jason. I don't see the man who forged a relationship with the greatest cop Gotham City ever had. I see a failure, a man who let his dream get away from him, a man who never really understood his son or his friend."

He kissed her lightly on the lips; she noticed he tasted like frustration. "Criminals are no longer afraid and I will not kill to get their attention. When I started this mission, I needed Jim Gordon. I lost Jim Gordon. I can't do this without him. God help me I wish that Barbara had been killed that night instead of this daily slap in the face, and that makes me feel more guilty than ever. Maybe then Jim could…maybe Dick could…maybe I could do something useful!"

He stepped away from her and beckoned her to finish taking off her costume. "Tonight was the last night of the Batman," he said before pulling her down onto the cold, hard floor.


	9. Chapter 9

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 9

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"I cannot believe this circus," Dick whispered from behind Barbara. She was seated at the Respondent's table next to her lawyer. It was the second day of testimony in the case of Napier versus Gordon, a hearing in front of Gotham County family court judge, the Honorable William Wankerhan, or "Willy Wanker" as he was referred to by persons who lost judgments before him.

She only nodded and the lawyer motioned for Dick to be quiet. Alfred noted that Dick stiffened, ready to give the counselor a piece of his mind. After all, Dick was paying his fees for Barbara. The former Wayne Family butler put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Master Richard, he is only trying to listen to the testimony so he can respond."

Dick nodded and sat back, returning his attention to the witness being questioned. The lawyer for the Joker, alias Jack Napier, finished and smiled to the judge before returning to his seat. The man wore a suit that Dick was pretty sure was a knock-off of a more expensive brand. How the Joker was able to afford any lawyer was beyond Dick's ability to understand. Any monies that the Joker had were considered ill-gotten gains and were therefore illegal tender for lack of a better term.

It meant that either this lawyer was crooked, working pro bono or the Joker had himself a sugar daddy. "Your witness," the other lawyer said to Barbara's. Barbara whispered something to her lawyer and let him get up. She turned and regarded Dick, thankful that he and Alfred had come along. She needed their strength to add to hers because she simply couldn't hold onto the edge of sanity for much longer.

The Joker's goal in life was to drive people insane and he was working his special magic on Barbara. In her hand, underneath the table, she held her rosary, praying for the strength to not kill the Joker right here and now.

"Ms. Quinzel…" Barbara's lawyer began.

"That's Dr. Quinzel," the pretty blonde woman corrected him. She looked too you to be a psychiatrist, but then Barbara had received her doctorate at a very young age too.

"I'm sorry?"

"I go by the title of doctor, sir; I believe I've earned it," she replied with a large smile. The smile took away from her stunning good looks and made her look like a predator.

Dick wanted to scream because the lawyer had now paused. With the first question, he was now on the defensive. "Of course, my apologies," the lawyer started as he looked down on his legal pad. "Dr. Quinzel, you stated that you believe that the Petitioner is not a threat to his child, can you explain why?"

She straightened her glasses and crossed her shapely legs. "Over the past two years, Mr. Napier has made a remarkable effort to become adjusted."

"Yes, yes, but is he cured?" the lawyer asked, trying to regain the advantage.

"I don't like to use that term, sir; it indicates that he is diseased."

"But, was he not incarcerated in the Arkham Asylum for mental defects? Does he not suffer from a mental condition, a disease that slowly eats away at his moral compass?" The lawyer turned and winked at Barbara. Slowly he turned back to Dr. Quinzel. "He's responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people! He has killed children before."

"Mr. Napier suffers from exposure to a chemical bath that has affected his own brain chemistry." She nodded to the Joker. "It has caused physical irregularities that have made him a pariah of our society. He is the equivalent of a leper in a primitive society. That sort of shame and feeling of self-loathing, combined with the effects of the chemical bath drove him to several psychotic episodes."

"Does the reason really matter?"

"Indeed it does. In the past two years, Mr. Napier's brain chemistry has begun to revert to normal. It is the reason why there have been no incidents since his last arrest…"

The lawyer jumped on the point. "Ah, that arrest was for the assault and brutal rape of not only the Respondent but also former Commissioner James Gordon! Are you willing to put your reputation, which I am sure is formidable given your extensive experience," he smiled as he jabbed at her youth.

"Yes, I am. Mr. Napier is not asking to be set free; he's asking to try and develop some sort of relationship with his son. That, in and of itself, is indicative of a return to normal behavior." 

The lawyer rolled his eyes. "Or it means he wants to kill his own son! He's a homicidal maniac!"

"That's a lie!" the Joker shouted, standing up at his table. He was handcuffed and clad in the gray jumpsuit of the Arkham Asylum. Two deputies grabbed him by the shoulders.

Judge Wankerhan started beating his gavel. "Mr. Napier, sit down!"

"This lawyer is saying terrible things about me!" the Joker exclaimed as he was forced to sit back in his chair. His lawyer leaned over and started whispering excitedly into his ear. The Joker shook his head. "No!"

Dick couldn't take it. All of the rage he had held inside for two years burst out and he was up and over the railing his fist back to lay the Joker out. Both Barbara and Alfred shouted out for him to stop and Barbara's lawyer ran to the far corner. 

A deputy made the mistake of getting in Dick's way and old reflexes kicked in. The deputy was down with two quick punches and the judge started screaming for order. In the back of the courtroom, the doors were flung open and several more deputies and a couple of regular GCPD cops came running in, some with weapons drawn. It was no secret that the Joker was here and nobody was taking any chances.

The Joker tried to put his hands up, but Dick punched him square in the nose, sending him flipping back out of his chair. "You son of a bitch! It's time to pay the piper!"

The second deputy pulled out his nightstick, only to have it taken away from him and used to trip him. Dick head butted the lawyer, breaking his nose. The lawyer fell back with a final cry of "Ill sue!"

All hell broke loose as several men and women in uniform jumped the railing and tackled Dick. He was forced to the floor, but kept struggling. He found himself face to face with the Joker. The Clown Prince smiled as Dick's arms were forced behind his back. "Looks like you'll be a jail bird now, Robin old boy!"

Dick's face turned white as the Joker's as he realized the secret was out. "Come on, lover boy," a cop said as Dick was hauled to his feet. Two more were helping the Joker up. He was crying and sobbing, claiming he couldn't defend himself.

"And my lawyer is dead!" the Joker said to the judge.

"He's not dead, Mr. Napier," the judge said, shaking his head as Dick was being read his rights. It wouldn't do to not give a Miranda reading in a courtroom! "Young man, I don't know what your problem is…"

"He's got bats in his belfry," the Joker said, appearing fearful. "There's terrible men like him at Arkham! All full of rage!"

Barbara started crying and Alfred immediately took her into his arms, trying to sooth her with reassuring words even as Dick struggled against his restraints. If he were in costume, he would have already produced a lock pick from his gauntlet and would be free. Part of the training the Batman had subjected both Barbara and Dick to involved such escapes in less than thirty seconds.

Judge Wankerhan kept beating his gavel until the little wooden hammer broke in two. Dick was finally dragged out while a paramedic team, which happened to be in the courthouse as well, came in to examine the Joker. Barbara looked over as the restraints were removed from him. She started to cry out but Alfred cautioned her. "Mistress Barbara, please remember Master Dick's folly!"

The Joker rubbed his wrists and allowed the medics to examine his injury. After a few minutes they pronounced that he would live and began treating his lawyer. Barbara's lawyer came over from his hiding place and straightened his tie before packing his papers into his briefcase. "That didn't go very well," he said.

"You think?" Barbara shot back, sickened by the man's cowardice. She would fire him later that day. "What happens now?"

"Well, this hearing is a mess now. The judge is so pissed at us right now he'd probably grant full custody to the Joker if he wasn't incarcerated." The lawyer closed and locked his briefcase and picked up his hat. "We'll probably reschedule, but more than likely the Joker's lawyer will request a restraining order against Mr. Grayson."

"I don't think he'll be coming back into court any time soon…"

The lawyer shook his head. "No, you don't understand. Mr. Grayson has shown himself to be unpredictable and violent. It was the Joker who got beat here; it was the Joker who was defenseless. No doubt the restraining order will be to keep your boyfriend away from the child until this matter is settled."

"What? Dick is the one helping to support James!" Barbara said in a voice a little too loud. She saw the Joker look over at her and give her a wink. That disgusted feeling welled up inside of her and she thought she might vomit right there. She turned her head and locked eyes with Dr. Quinzel, who was still seated next to the judge.

She gave Barbara the exact same wink.

"Thanks for coming an getting me," Dick said to the tall man in the expensive suit. "I couldn't call Bruce."

Clark Kent nodded and put a reassuring hand on Dick's shoulder as they walked out of the county jail. "Lucky for me I have a somewhat decent reputation in Gotham City as well." They were just about to Dick's car when Clark stopped him. "That was pretty stupid."

"Clark, I can't explain it. It felt like the entire scene was being manipulated to just piss me off. It was like that doctor knew that everything she was saying was BS, but she didn't care." He kicked at a small rock on the sidewalk. "The Joker knows I used to be Robin."

"Then he must also know that Bruce is Batman," Clark said, rubbing his chin. "Do you want me to tell him?"

Dick shook his head. "No; it's my responsibility. I just can't figure out how he found out unless he knew Barbara was Batgirl. It's possible he could have put two and two together…"

"It's not important," Clark told him. "If he was going to announce it to the world, he would have already. It doesn't change anything. He's a dangerous madman."

"Except the courts aren't seeing it that way. My little stunt today has the local cops pissed at me too. My attorney told me that I'm already being sued." He leaned back against the car and looked up into the night sky. "Bruce's lawyer contacted me as well; he was in the courthouse filing Bruce's new will when the commotion happened. He wants me to give up my wardship in order to protect Bruce's assets."

"Can you do that?"

"Cut myself off? Sure, but it can't be fake. I'd have to be really cut off, severed permanently from the Wayne Fortune." 

Clark nodded and pushed his glasses up on his nose. He really liked Dick and always had. He had been the light to counter Batman's darkness, but he could see that the current events were weighing on him heavily. "Are you going to be okay?"

Dick gave a chuckle. "I've faced Trigon, been to the edges of the galaxy and been shot by a guy who thinks everything is a joke. A few lawsuits can't hurt me." Clark noticed the papers in Dick's hand and saw the younger man was crushing them without thinking. Dick saw where his gaze was going and held them up. "Restraining order. I can't even go home."

"Do you need a place to stay?"

"Shack up with Superman? A few years ago, you wouldn't have been able to stop me! I already called Wally West and he's letting me stay at his place for awhile."

"Keystone City?"

"Actually, he also has an apartment in Central City. It was Barry Allen's when he first became the Flash. When Wally won the lottery he and I went in and bought the building. It's rent controlled now and signed over to the Flash Museum…"

Clark nodded. "Being surrounded by the honest simplicity of what was Barry Allen's life might do you some good." Barry had sacrificed his life years before to stop a powerful being called the Anti-Monitor from destroying the universe. He was a hero that even his enemies respected. "I'll look in on Barbara if you want."

"I appreciate it. She's going to try to visit me when she can, depending on her schedule at the _Planet_," he replied, hinting to his friend that he would gladly accept any help in that area he could provide.

"I'll see if I can convince her boss," Clark said with a twinkle in his eye. "Go on, get some sleep."

"It's a helluva drive to Central City," Dick said as he looked out onto the horizon. Maybe he did need to get away from here. He wanted to stay in Metropolis, but he was too afraid that the Joker might strike at him, or that his continued presence might ruin Barbara's case. She had Superman to watch over her now. 

She didn't need him.


	10. Chapter 10

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 10

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"In the matter of the minor child James Gordon, I have listened to witness testimony as well as statements offered by both parties. I have hundreds of pages of scientific data and doctors reports regarding the mental state of both the Petitioner and the Respondent." Judge Wankerhan patted the stack of papers next to him for effect. Barbara's new lawyer, a middle-aged woman who had complained loudly that she had not been permitted enough time to get acquainted with the case, shook her head slightly. All of this seemed so wrong.

The judge appeared ignorant of her silent dissent. "For the record, I do not feel that Mr. Napier has recovered sufficiently to be awarded joint custody of the child. Despite the leaps and bounds he appears to be making in his treatment, it does not overshadow the fact that he has, at times in the past, committed several terrible crimes."

The Joker kept his head straight and remained fixated on the judge, acting like a small boy in church. Barbara knew it was an act, but there was no way she could prove it. In the two months since Dick's outburst had ended their initial hearing as well as their relationship for the time being, the Joker had continued to be the model inmate at Arkham. Her lawyer had even tried to find something on Dr. Quinzel to try and prove she was a quack of some sort, maybe even one of those serial killer groupies.

The fact was that despite her age, Quinzel received nothing but high compliments from all of the other doctors at Arkham. They praised her as a breath of fresh air, full of the optimism of youth. They were sure it was that "can-do" attitude that she exuberated that was helping the Joker along. Barbara thought it was all bullshit. Quinzel was as nuts as the Joker, but because she didn't have the proper degree, Barbara could not testify to that.

She was prevented from testifying about her time as Batgirl and the things she witnessed the Joker involve himself in. That part of her life had to remain a secret because super-heroes in Gotham City, expect for the members of the Oracle Group, which had just added Deathstroke as a new member, were vigilantes. As such, they were accused of stepping on civil liberties and certainly not the type of person to have custody of a child. She was just lucky that the Joker had not mentioned it or else she would have had to admit to it under oath.

Once she put her faith in God after her rape, Barbara was determined not to ever turn her back on Him. It was He that had blessed her with a normal, healthy child and it was He who was going to see her through this. 

She briefly returned to the present as the judge continued. "However, I have before me an overwhelming preponderance of evidence that suggests that Mr. Napier would like to try and contribute something positive to his son's life. If Mr. Napier has been found not guilty of his many crimes in the past because of something that is beyond his control, do I have the right to deny him his basic rights as a parent? Good or bad, a parent still has rights until the state chooses to remove them. In this particular case, the Respondent has never made any attempt to have the Petitioner's rights terminated, and until competent authority moves to do so, they must be considered intact."

He shook his head as he considered it. "Because of that, and because there is no direct evidence that Mr. Napier poses a threat to his child, I am granting limited visitation rights."

Barbara stumbled as her knees gave out and Alfred was quick to catch her. The judge seemed unimpressed and kept speaking. "These visitations will be supervised under the direction of Mr. Napier's doctor, his lawyer and representatives of the state Department of Corrections. It will be limited to one visitation every month for fours hours, to be reevaluated by this court every six months."

The judge then turned his full attention to the Joker, who was wiping away a tear from his eye. "Let me remind you Mr. Napier that any infraction, no matter how small, will result in this court rescinding this order and I will personally begin the process of having your rights vacated. Is that clear?"

"Oh, yes, your honor; thank you! Thank you! God bless you, sir," the Joker said, now in a full cry. Barbara joined him, wailing as she realized that she had just lost not just the battle, but also the war. 

Bruce Wayne had offered to fly her anywhere in the world, including out to the small island he now lived on with Selina, and oddly enough, Aquaman and several island women, but Barbara had refused. Dick had made the same offer, but it was moot; a court had frozen most of his personal assets as soon as the lawsuits hit the society page. Luckily, Bruce had removed most of the Wayne fortune from the United States and had it tucked away in various banks throughout the world. The lawyers could try for Dick's inheritance, but they would never find it. 

In the back of the courtroom, Lois Lane typed furiously at her laptop, not believing what she was hearing. There was something wrong here as Vicki Vale, a reporter for the _Gotham Gazette_ had confided in her earlier that day. 

Lois had come to like Barbara very much and was surprised when Clark revealed the Batgirl secret. To Lois, it only made her fall even more tragic. The rape of Barbara Gordon was bad enough, but now the Joker was raping the entire criminal and civil justice system in Gotham County as well. Everywhere Lois looked in this dark place, she was reminded of a chalk-white penis penetrating everything. As Dick Grayson had put it several months before, "Gotham is fucked."

Well, she thought to herself as she saved the story for later upload to the _Daily Planet_, she wasn't going to be going anywhere until she found a way to get some sort of giant condom for this city! It wasn't that she loved Gotham, but she had to admit the place grew on you. Having been an army brat, Lois had moved around the country from place to place until she had settled in Metropolis. 

Metropolis, the city of the sun itself it seemed, had flash and personality, but Gotham had a dark side that appealed to her inner self. As much as she loved Clark, she had to admit a passion for the dangerous life. She, like most women, had her fantasies of dark alleyways and urban intrigue. What bothered her most was the way corruption could eat its way into the heart of a city so quickly.

Metropolis had is corruption, of course, starting with Lex Luthor. The difference between Luthor and Gotham's scum was that Lex truly did love Metropolis. Sure, he wanted to rule it like an ancient city-state, but he still loved it nevertheless. The criminal element of Gotham wanted nothing more than to tear down this place and reduce it to ash and cinder. 

In the 1940's, this place had been protected by the original Green Lantern and Black Canary, but even their good-nature and supreme willpower could not stop the dark cloud that continually hung over the city. Eventually, they gave up and moved elsewhere it seemed. Then came James Gordon and the Batman and it seemed like that the war could finally be won.

Of course, all of that changed when Barbara had gotten pregnant. How one life could affect an entire town fascinated Lois. When she had first met Barbara, she thought her to be a sweet girl; now her respect for the scarlet-haired beauty was growing every day with each new piece of information. She bravely stood up to her father, a man she practically worshipped, in order to keep her baby. Now she was facing down the man who had raped her, violated her in her own home!

She couldn't do it alone, though, and that was why Lois was here. Clark wanted to help, but even Superman couldn't do it all. James Gordon had abandoned his daughter when she refused to bend to his will. The Batman had given up for his own reasons but Lois couldn't help but think there was a lot of guilt there. Dick didn't want to give up, but he had no choice; his rage was too all consuming. He was hurt and embarrassed and spiraling down that dark tunnel of despair. Hopefully he would get himself out if it soon because it was obvious that Barbara was very much in love with him.

Barbara's lawyer made a valiant protest, but the judge reminded her that he had ruled and she was dangerously close to contempt.

She told him to fuck off.

"I did well, then?" Judge Wankerhan asked, his voice like a small boy waiting for praise. He had already dismissed his clerk and was removing his black robes. Underneath he wore a blue shirt and tie and slacks, which he began to remove as well.

He waited for a response, but did not receive one. He understood that he was not in his "speaking" uniform yet and hurried to comply. Taking off the shirt, he revealed nipples pierces several times with needles and pins, some adorned with colorful little flags. Some said, "bitch" and others said "milk maid".  Once he had taken off his trousers, he unzipped his leather panties to allow his privates to hang out. 

He stood at full attention, like a recruit in basic training. "I did well?" he asked again.

Harleen Quinzel stood up from where she had been sitting, in the massive leather chair the judge kept behind his desk. She was dressed in a plaid miniskirt and long white socks, her hair in long blonde pigtails. Slowly, she began to unbutton her white blouse, teasing him with glimpses of her ample cleavage. "Oh, daddy, you did really well. I think you were just hard enough on Mr. J!"

"I like being hard," he stammered as one of her breasts fell out. 

"Oh, I know, daddy, that's why us little girls come to you when we have problems," she said in an innocent voice. "Aren't you glad I've come to help you be hard?"

He nodded. "Daddy likes it."

"Should daddy's little girl spank daddy?"

His face reddened. "Yes, please."

"If I spank you real good will you spank me? If I spank you extra good, what will daddy give me?" she asked as she stepped next to him. He was on the verge of losing control, but he wouldn't because that control was hers to do with as she pleased. Her first meeting with the judge had told her everything she needed to know, plus a little research from a professional computer hacker.

"What else do you want?" he asked, his voice now seemingly calm. The question had pushed a little too much reality back into his brain. That didn't bother her; his mind was her plaything, a lump of clay waiting to be sculpted.

"I guess me and my little puss-puss will have to leave. Daddy is upset," she said, returning to the desk and picking up a stuffed kitty cat. 

"No! No! Don't go, daddy is sorry," he said, reaching for her. Inwardly, Harleen smiled at the ease in which the judge was manipulated. Give a little, take a little away. Her only regret was that the fat bastard was probably going to want to spend the whole night plugging every orifice on the both of them.

She longed for the days when she could do that with her beloved Mr. J. As it stood right now she had to be satisfied servicing the Joker during their closed sessions. She didn't mind it so much, especially when he looked at her with those wild green eyes and told her how much he like to kill someone just for her. She could imagine him writing their names in blood, inside a heart, on the walls of his cell.

She sighed and then jumped a little when the judge reached up her skirt. "I guess daddy wants to play after all," she said, keeping up the act. More than anything, she wanted to commit this jerk. She couldn't abide sick people like him; perverts lacked any imagination, while killers were artists.

There was something special in the way the Joker killed, it was almost as if every body was a love gift to her. "Daddy, do you know about that case against bad old Dick?"

He was breathing heavy as his hands roamed her backside. "You mean Grayson?"

"Mr. J wants you to throw the book at him!"

He stopped. "I can arrange it," he said, trying to sound like a big man. She almost laughed, but realized that he probably did have a few powerful judge friends. "What does daddy get?"

Harleen dropped the skirt and removed her shirt and then handed over the stuffed cat. "Daddy gets to smack my puss-puss!"

The judge smiled and started throttling the little fake animal. Harleen made a mental note because she hadn't really considered he would beat the toy, not when something she felt was more desirable was offered. Maybe he was trying to reach inside and find his primal hunter. Maybe he was just a fruit loop!

This judge was more crazy than most of her patients. It was funny in a sad way and later when she told the Joker, he had a great laugh about it as well. "A judge in leather panties beating the stuffing out of a toy cat," the Joker had giggled. "Now that, my good doctor, is art! That is theater!"

They had laughed about it well into the night and then later had called in Two-Face to discuss their next legal strategy. The former district attorney could not believe what he was seeing. Not only had the Joker been able to get a doctor on his side, but now he had a judge firmly in his pocket. 

He bowed his head slightly to the Clown Prince. "I think I'm starting to see your genius," Two-Face said.

"Oh, but there is much more, good sir, much more," the Joker said as an orderly brought him a cup of tea. This was supposed to be group therapy not a planning session, but Harleen had control of many of the orderlies. It was the Joker's private in-house army.

"What's you beef with this Grayson guy?" Two-Face asked. "I know he punched you, but what do you expect?"

"Oh, well, I suppose he got on my bad side is all. Now…"

"Just a second, sport," Two-Face started as he began flipping his coin in the air. It had two faces, one of them purposely ruined so that the coin matched his own warped visage. "You're not going to hurt this little baby are you?"

"It's my baby!" the Joker said.

"I don't go for hurting kids," Two-Face said. "You want to slaughter adults, then fine, but you leave the kids alone."

The Joker shrugged. "Then I suppose our little business arrangement is done with. Nobody tells me what to do."

Two-Face started to stand up but a large orderly pushed his down. "What the hell?" Two-Face asked.

"I really appreciate your legal advice over the past few years, Harvey, but you have gotten to bossy." The Joker turned to Harleen, who was seated next to him at the circular table. "You better hide your eyes, baby."

Harleen gave Two-Face a little good-bye wave and then promptly got up and walked out. "Now, everybody hum!"

The other orderlies and inmates obeyed, each one humming a favorite tune as the large worker strangled Two-Face. As Harvey Dent passed from this world, it was to an opera of the national anthem and movie themes, as well as the cackling laughter of the Joker, sending him straight to hell.


	11. Chapter 11

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 11

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"You're Dick Grayson, right?"

Dick rubbed the sleep from his eyes and shook his head, trying to see if he suddenly went insane the night before. He almost wished that he drank so he could blame what he was seeing on alcohol. Standing before him in tight denim shorts and a halter-top was a young, buxom woman with deep green eyes.

The eyes matched her skin color.

"I almost want to say 'she-hulk', but something tells me I shouldn't," he said weakly. She laughed, her perfect teeth shining against her skin tone.

"I'm Jennie-Lynn Hayden," she said, holding out her hand.

Dick took it and ran the name through his head. It was familiar enough as was she. He had never dated her (he would have remembered dating a green woman), but he was sure they had met. "Can I come in?" she asked.

He turned and regarded the apartment. He had kept it neat and clean under threat of "a major ass-whipping" by Wally West. "Believe it or not, I'm not in the habit of letting pretty girls in my house."

"You don't remember me, do you? A couple of years ago I did a swimsuit calendar with Kory Anders…"

"Oh, yeah," Dick said with sudden recognition. "You wore the green thong…"

"Yes, and it looked like I was naked and born without the proper equipment," she said rolling her eyes. "Like I've never heard that before."

"Model or not, I'm not sure why I should let you in," Dick told her.

She shook her head. "Do you know how many men dream about me coming to their door?"

"I dated Kory Anders…"

She stuck her tongue out. "Yeah, yeah, tall and big boobs…"

Dick had heard enough. "Exactly what do you want?"

"I would really rather come in and tell you…"

He refused to be budged and she took a deep sigh. Despite himself, he found his eyes wandering to her chest as she did so. She wasn't wearing a bra and old hungers suddenly crept up inside of him. It had been weeks since he and Barbara had put their relationship on hold, all for the benefit little James. It was meant to be a temporary situation until she could sort out her problems with the Joker and he could deal with his new legal dilemmas. 

Taking a good look at her, he realized just how pretty she really was. She couldn't have been more than 22, but then he wasn't quite sure how old she was when she started modeling. He seemed to remember she was a photographer as well. Probably skilled in many areas and paid pretty well for all of them.

She noticed his gaze but didn't say anything. He was cute, after all. "I'm from Gotham City. I've been there the past six months trying to get my brother to seek psychological help."

"That concerns me how?"

"My brother is Obsidian."

Dick poured out another cup of coffee and Jennie put a good helping of sugar and cream in the cup. He wondered how she kept her figure and then watched in disbelief as she gobbled down another doughnut. "This is good!"

"Yeah, well you'll find all kinds of food full of sugar here," Dick told her. He had taken a quick shower and come out in his shorts and a Hard Rock Café Gotham City T-shirt. Jennie stuffed more doughnut in her mouth every time she got a glance at his chest bulging through the shirt.

"So, you're Alan Scott's daughter?" he asked, trying to get a better feel for her. He laughed at the thought and she gave him a queer look.

"Yes, my brother and I have the same mother, but she and dad are no longer together." She sipped the coffee. "This is good."

"I have it imported from Brazil special," he replied. "So, what makes you think I can help you out with your brother?"

"I know that you were once Robin and you're probably Nightwing, too, thought I haven't seen you in costume lately," she started. She pushed the coffee away. "My brother thought you were a great inspiration, as did I. You and all of the Teen Titans. I was sorry to see them break up."

Dick nodded. "And you're Jade of Infinity, Inc., correct? I guess we're all super-heroes here." He didn't bother to tell her that he was getting pretty miffed by the way everyone seemed to know his secret identity. "Why doesn't anyone ever put it together that you're her?"

She shrugged. "Maybe they do; I'd say most people don't care. It's you guys in the dark costumes and masks that everyone worries about."

"Like your brother?"

"Todd isn't a bad person, or at least he wasn't growing up," she said, her voice suddenly seeming far away. It was obvious by her expression that her brother's current career choice was weighing heavily on her. "When the team split up a few years back, he was looking for a purpose. Jim Gordon gave it to him."

"I get where your powers come from," Dick said, pointing to the power pulse birthmark on her palm. Her powers were nearly exactly like those of her father. "I just don't get Obsidian's."

"My heritage is strange to explain…"

Dick couldn't help but laugh out loud as he moved over to the small television in the kitchen. He wanted to catch the news before he headed out to talk with his lawyer. The lawsuits against him from the two police officers had been dropped thanks to large cash settlements, but he still faced criminal charges and the Joker's lawyer's lawsuit. "Try being raised by the Batman!"

She said nothing for a moment. "Is he dead? I mean, I've heard all of the rumors about him; you never know what to believe."

"Bruce is fine; he's living in Greece with his girlfriend. He refused to change his methods and the criminals knew it. He also didn't want to be fighting with the police in Gotham City." Dick adjusted the sound and noticed that the scrolling bar at the bottom indicated that there was an emergency in Metropolis.

When he didn't respond to Jennie's cough, she got up to see what he was looking at. The news footage, coming from a WGBS news chopper, indicated that the picture was live. Jennie saw several military vehicles burning and she guessed they were National Guard units. It looked like a war zone.

"What is it?" she asked.

He shook his head. "They haven't said, only that Metropolis is under attack and the Justice League has been called in." As if on cue, the familiar sight of the Bug, the flying insect-like craft of the Blue Beetle, came swooping in under the smoke being raised from a forest fire. Behind the Bug came a red-haired man in a leather jacket and cowboy boots.

"Gardner," Jennie commented, not pleased but what she saw. Guy Gardner was considered a fallen Green Lantern after having been kicked out of the Green Lantern Corps by Hal Jordan, the man who had succeeded her father. The Green Lantern Corps were a universal police force that represented order and justice; Guy Gardner had never fit that mold. After he had been removed from the Corps, he had traveled to another universe to secure the power ring of Sinestro; anything to remain in the spotlight.

"I know; it's hard to believe he's a hero," Dick said as he leaned in close. The camera was focusing on Gardner as he streaked down towards a man-shaped mountain of a creature. The monster, for there was no other word to describe it, reached out and grabbed the hero, holding him by the throat. The speed of the monster was incredible. 

Over the next hour, they watched in horror as the monster, named Doomsday by the media, trashed the entire Justice League and anyone else who dared to stand up to it. By the time Superman had come to stop it, billions of dollars of damage had been done.

The sight of his old friend and the shining example of heroism made Dick feel better. He was sure that the Man of Steel, whom he was now trusting with protecting Barbara, would be able to handle the monster no problem. Dick turned down the volume and returned his attention to Jennie, who was hanging up her cell phone. "That was Todd; Gordon won't allow him to go to Metropolis to help."

"It sounds to me like your brother knows exactly what he's doing; maybe you're worrying too much. I may not agree with the Oracle Group, but they are legally deputized law enforcement officers," Dick told her. 

Jennie shook her head and he got a whiff of her perfume. She really was beautiful. "The Oracle Group are killers; Todd never…"

"Those deaths were ruled justified; believe me, I checked them out. There's not a hint of corruption," Dick told her. He moved back over to the table and sat down. "Anyway, I've got too many legal problems now to be of any use."

She shook her head and reached out instinctively to grab his hand. "No! You and the Batman are heroes to a lot of us. You had no powers and yet you always triumphed. You never deviated from the law, never took matters into your own hands. You have no idea how much respect that garners."

"And we couldn't protect the people that meant the most to us," Dick responded, not bothering to pull his hand back. It wasn't the romantic kind of grab; she wasn't flirting but simply trying to get a point across.

In a way, it seemed funny to him that a younger hero was approaching him for advice. Growing up, he and the other male members of the Teen Titans had always gone to Donna Troy, Wonder Girl, for advice. In his wildest dreams, he never imagined himself in such a role.

"I know what happened to Ms. Gordon, though I'm not exactly sure what her relationship was to you…"

"We were involved…"

"Still, you didn't kill the Joker…"

Dick pulled his hand away. "No, I just beat the snot out of him in a courtroom."

"You could have killed him at any time, you and the Batman both, but neither of you wanted to compromise your principles! You're a good man and I know you can do the right thing." Her eyes were beginning to water and she looked away. "My brother isn't evil, but Jim Gordon is. I always assumed that you and the Batman would see that."

"He's not evil…"

She turned back. A single tear was running down her face and he suppressed the urge to dry it for her. "Maybe not, but he's obsessed with revenge against the Joker. The Joker won't do anything, so he's taking it out on everyone else. My brother is falling for all of it. He thinks Jim Gordon basically trained you and Batman. And that bitch…"

"The Huntress?"

"The bitch, I said! She's the worse of them! All she wants to do is find reasons to kill criminals." Her tears were flowing too heavy now and she stopped speaking. Dick went to get her some tissues when he saw the cameras on the television focused on Doomsday and Superman. The two were fighting and striking blows that were making the buildings shake in downtown Metropolis. Dick grabbed his cell phone and dialed Barbara's number. 

He couldn't get through and slammed the phone down. "I've got to get to Metropolis," he said silently. 

Jennie came up behind him and peered over his shoulder. She gasped at the sight of the unbridled fury and violence as Doomsday and Superman pummeled each other. Dick's eyes were drawn to the scene as well, a morbid curiosity that made him feel six inches tall. He was worried about Barbara, but it was his hero who was in mortal danger.

A thousand thoughts went through his mind as he watched, in utter disbelief, as Superman _bled_. "Please, God, no," he whispered. Jennie put a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't notice. He could see the pain in Superman's eyes as Doomsday landed an uppercut.

The cell phone rang and Dick slowly put it to his ear. "Master Richard?" Alfred asked when Dick didn't say anything.

"Alf?"

"Sir, I was just calling to inform you that mistress Barbara and master James are safe at the Manor, per master Bruce's instructions." Alfred didn't say anything for a moment, waiting for Dick's response. The faithful butler knew that the young man was no doubt watching the bloody battle on television. "I am sure he will be okay, sir."

"Yeah," Dick said as he hung up the phone and set it down. The punches were coming so fast that it was a blur of motion with sonic booms occurring long after the strikes had connected.  He felt something shaking and he then noticed that Jennie was trembling.

"He can't die…not him…"

Doomsday finally fell and it looked as if he was dead and then Superman wavered, his knees buckling. Dick saw the Man of Steel fall and Lois Lane running to her fallen husband. She grabbed him and propped him up, but she couldn't hold him up. Dick shook his head and started sobbing because he could tell what was going on by the look on her face, that he was dead. He knew that look for it was the same one he had on his face when his parents had been killed.

It was the face of death and mourning. It was a visage of despair and sadness. His heart was breaking because all of the rules were now thrown out the door. The sun always rises in the morning, the grass is always greener on the other side and Superman can never die.

Like a mirror image, Dick sank to his knees and didn't notice that Jennie was already there. She looked over to him and he could see that she was thinking the same things as he was. "He's Superman…"

Dick tried to find soothing words but then realized he didn't want to soothe anyone, but instead wanted to lash out. Several pent up emotions bubbled up, coming out in the tears pouring from his eyes. 

He grabbed her and she didn't resist; her eyes telling him that she needed something, anything to make reality bleed away. He kissed her with passion and with determination. She returned it and pushed herself onto him. His strong hands grabbed her by the shoulder and his lips moved to her neck.

They continued, moving from the floor to the table, their clothes tossed away with abandon. The news report continued, running a commentary of death in the background. As the began their coupling, both of them grunted and moaned louder than they normally would, trying to drown out the what they were hearing.

To Dick, it was all a dream, when guilt started to creep into his mind, he forced it out. Superman was dead, it couldn't be real. He tried to convince himself of that when he looked down and saw Jennie writhing underneath him, her breasts bouncing with their rhythm.

Then it finally occurred to him, the insanity of it all. He saw, for the briefest of moments, the world through the eyes of a madman. 

Superman had just been killed and he was screwing a green woman on top of a box of doughnuts.

This is what its like when nothing makes sense he told himself. 


	12. Chapter 12

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 12

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"Could this year get any worse?" Barbara asked as she pulled a cigarette out of the pack and lit it. It was a habit that had plagued her father for decades and was now her inheritance. The smooth tobacco flavor calmed her nerves and the rush of nicotine to her brain made her fell slightly lightheaded. 

Lois waved the smoke away, but it was no use. With the windows rolled up and the winter snow falling outside, there was no escaping the gray clouds. She looked over at Barbara, true concern in her eyes. It had been a terrible year for the both of them and Lois could not imagine it getting any worse. There was no possible way God could rain down more curses upon the two of them.

It had started nine months before when Clark had been killed. A part of Lois Lane had died that day as well and even now, many months later, she still could not feel like the person she was before his death. The world had been thrown into a wave of mourning not seen since John Kennedy had been laid to rest.

For Barbara, a piece of her had been destroyed as well after she had called Dick in Central City to tell him she was okay. Instead of getting her closest friend and confident, she got some green bimbo that had wormed her way into Dick's pants. Their relationship, which had been on hold, had been torn apart and the pieces thrown into the air. Barbara had been crushed and Dick could offer no explanation for his actions.

They had not spoken since, though it wasn't hard to keep tabs on the heir to the Wayne Fortune. The other woman, a model of all people, had helped his image. After all, who had respect for a woman who wouldn't abort the child of the Joker?

Lois snorted as she considered how small-minded people really were over the whole issue of James. Even people Lois knew to be conservative Christians were calling for the child's destruction because he was the Devil's Seed. Barbara had faced them all, taken every jibe, every insult and kept her chin held high. Nobody was going to tell Barbara Gordon how to live her life and it was obvious by the new demeanor her friend had assumed a persona that refused to take shit from anyone.

They now lived together, drawing strength from their shared losses. The running joke was to never date a super-hero; they only disappointed you in the end. Even Alfred had seemed shocked by Dick's actions and had tried unsuccessfully to get Bruce to rein him in. Bruce, for his part, was a man torn apart by his inner demons. Clark's death had shaken him to his very core and now he was becoming a voice of dissent among the costumed crowd.

True, Bruce Wayne didn't wear the tights anymore, but he still had an opinion and he was letting it be known to many of the old guard. Lois wasn't sure how she felt about that. Clark's legacy had inspired so many to take up the cause of justice, but Gotham's shame was doing the exact opposite. Even the Oracle Group had dissolved when Obsidian suddenly quit and disappeared. 

The Huntress now ruled Gotham City, a black-clad bitch with a hard-on for violence and Jim Gordon. All of Lois's digging produced nothing she could use; the Huntress was adept at covering her tracks. Of course, she had received lessons from on of the greatest cops ever.

"Can you believe that little blonde whore?" Barbara said, inhaling. She was referring to Dr. Quinzel who had demanded that for the duration of the visitation that Barbara remain away from Arkham.

"We held it off for as long we could, but your lawyer even agreed that we couldn't win. Dick's little outburst in the courtroom definitely ruined your reputation." Lois pulled into the parking lot of the rest area. They would wait here until it was time to return and get James.

"I've got half a mind to put my costume on and go kick her ass." Barbara looked at the cigarette and realized she was in no shape to do such a thing. She rolled down the window and threw the smoke and the pack out into the snow.

Lois laughed. "The sure-fire way to get a woman to quit; piss her off." She reached over and rubbed the back of Barbara's neck. "Get off of those things and start going back to the gym. Do something for yourself."

Barbara laughed and closed her eyes. "Go back to the gym, eh? Am I getting fat?"

"No…lazy; you're not the same person who you were when I met you," Lois explained. She continued to massage as she spoke and adjusted the defrost on the car. "Hell, neither am I."

"It's the penis," Barbara said. "Put a cock on something and it thinks it can rule the world. It's a magic wand; it's a sword; it's a way to sign your name on someone's ass. I hate men."

"All men?"

Barbara thought for a moment. "I suppose not. Oliver Queen was okay for an older guy."

Lois stopped and her jaw fell open. "He's a womanizer. I mean Freud would have a field day with him. Chases women, uses arrows with multiple tips…"

Barbara laughed despite herself and then her eyes fell on the distant Arkham Asylum. "What if he hurts him?"

"There were twenty orderlies in the room, Babs," Lois pointed out. "Plus three security men, the Joker's lawyer and the blonde whore as you call her." Lois didn't say it, but that was her summation of Quinzel as well. "He'll be okay."

Barbara nodded and the tears started to flow as if a faucet had been turned on. There were tears of sadness and some of frustration, but all of them were hot and every time she looked to Arkham, she felt a little piece of her soul coming apart. Lois reached down and squeezed her hand. "It will be okay."

Barbara looked to her, hope in her eyes. Lois Lane was much more than a friend; she was a woman Barbara had come to idolize. She had remained strong since Superman's death. She could have proclaimed the truth to the world that he had been Clark Kent and she would have been treated like a second Virgin Mary. Instead, she went about her business, never looking back with anything but fondness.

Superman had freely given his life to protect those who could not defend themselves. It not only made him a hero, but made him a fine damn human being as well. Lois was trying her hardest to live up to that example and it had started by taking Barbara in. Their relationship had progressed well beyond the point it had been before Doomsday and the reporter knew that Barbara looked to her to be her bridge over troubled waters now.

Lois nodded and pulled Barbara close, putting a light kiss on her lips. Barbara smiled as they pulled away. "I promise," Lois said. 

"They are lovers," Harleen said, but the Joker wasn't interested. He looked at his son, playing with the assorted toys that had been provided with a bored eye.

"Is that all he does?"

"He's a child, dear," Harleen reminded him. She looked over and saw that the guards were outside of the room with the Joker's lawyer, discussing a variety of topics, while some orderlies stood around young James, watching him as he tried to pull the head off of a Joker action figure.

When that didn't work, James had the Superman figure jump up and down on the other toy. The Joker shook his head. "Can we eat him? How about a spanking?"

"No, what you need to do is identify with him on his level. Become his favorite playmate," Harleen told him, going over their plan. It was quite simple, really, just a series of events to induce the correct amount of trauma in the child to warp his mind. 

"I won't have to…you know…"

Harleen told him that molestation was out of the question as it left physical evidence. "The little brat won't even look at me!" the Joker complained.

"He's unsure of what to do, so he's playing," Harleen told him, shaking her head. She loved his crazy ass with all of her heart, but sometimes it surprised her just how dense the Joker was. Maybe that was what originally attracted her to him, his ability to compete with intellectuals such as the Batman without the benefit of education. "Now would be a good time to introduce yourself."

"Fuck the little shit! I don't care! All I want is the photo-op so I can surprise old Jim-boy with an early Christmas present." The Joker nodded to the orderly with the camera equipment and he began to set it up. 

Harleen rolled her eyes. "But think of it, puddin'," she said, referring to the Joker by the pet name she had developed for him. "You could mold this young boy into your legacy."

The Joker blanched at the thought. "The only legacy I want to leave is death, my dear. Before old Joker leaves this world, I want to fix it so I'm more popular than the Devil himself. I want people to get the joke; I want people to understand that this physical existence is nothing more than abstract thought in the mind of a bored supreme being. It doesn't matter what we do! There is no right or wrong!"

Harleen put a reassuring hand on the Joker's shoulder when the guards on the outside started to look in. Despite her best efforts and several attempts at seducing the guard captain, she had been unable to convince him to staff the security details with persons of her choosing. The Joker smiled at them and nodded to Harleen's comments.

He cleared his throat and once again looked over at the boy. He had a brief memory flash, a face in a mirror so many years ago, but then it was replaced by the multiple colors and screams that inhabited his brain. He assumed that the boy looked somewhat like he did at that age, but it didn't matter.

The Joker did not have the emotional capacity that others did. He simply did not feel pleasure or pain and his every action was a futile attempt to get something to register in his mind. It was his secret, the driving force behind his insanity. He had no dreams, no hopes, and no lusts; there was nothing except the screams and the colors and the nightmares. He sometimes desperately wished he could feel anger or sadness, but any emotions he displayed were all an act. He went through the motions, going from one extreme to the other in a vain attempt to kick-start that part of his soul that the chemicals had eaten away.

He looked at Harleen and saw the obsessive love in her eyes. He used her and she loved it and he just wanted to be sickened by it, or perhaps aroused. He screwed her every chance he got, sometimes even sharing her with others, but it did nothing for him. Even the act of sex held nothing for him except physical sensation. He understood beauty and when he looked upon his doctor's nude body writhing underneath him at night, he knew it was something quite spectacular to behold.

That didn't change the fact that having sex with a beautiful woman was no different to him than having sex with a corpse. So, every time he escaped from Arkham, he had to come up with even more extreme acts of anti-social behavior and every time he was rewarded with failure and emotional numbness.

The funny part was that all the Joker wanted to do was die and no matter what he did, nobody would kill him. Suicide was always an option, but then he would opt to try and get his emotions going again.

It was a never-ending cycle of failure and for the briefest of moments, he almost felt sorrow as he looked at the boy and realized that he had doomed this child. Desperately, he tried to cling to that small thread of sadness, but it escaped his mind's grasp and he was back to himself again. "Can you convince the little bastard to sit on my lap and smile?" the Joker asked.

Harleen sighed. She hated children and their constant whining, but she loved the Joker even more. She nodded and started to get up when he reached out and grabbed her hand. A shock went through her at his cold touch and she nearly had an orgasm there. He rarely touched her in such a way, with urgency and need. "What?" she asked, lust heavy in her voice.

The Joker picked up on her state but it did nothing for him. He would have sex with her later, not that he actually looked forward to it. It was simply something he had to progress to the next step of his plan. "You said something about lovers?"

Harleen sat down, a wicked smile on her face. Her lust disappeared as her intellectual side sprouted forth. "The way they look at each other, the slight nods, the pleading in their eyes. We know that Lois Lane lost her husband in the destruction of Metropolis and Dick Grayson is with the green girl now. They've lost the male influences in their lives, especially Barbara."

The Joker scratched his head. "That's how you make a lesbian?"

The doctor arched an eyebrow. "Some studies show that 50% of all women have bi-sexual tendencies and there is some research going on that indicate it may be even higher. Women require emotional bonds that most men can't provide. Your typical woman convinces herself to do without the emotion and settle for the stability that a man can provide."

"You sound like an expert on the subject, honey; anything I should know about?" the Joker asked with a smile. Harleen did not realize that he was simply adding more information to his mental file on her. She assumed it was a typical male response and it was there that her education, where she had been taught to recognize certain signs and draw certain conclusions, was failing her. If anything, the Joker was not the typical male. Be it one woman or a hundred women in his bed, it didn't matter. He did not have fantasies; he simply did what he did on impulse to feed off of other's emotions.

"So I like women, too; it's not a crime," she said getting back up, trying to play hard-to-get.

The Joker wasn't sure how any of this would play out until it dawned on him that if what Harleen observed were true, he would have an even bigger surprise for Jim. 

Secretly, the Joker admired the former police commissioner. His ability to withstand all of the trials that the Joker subjected him to was simply astounding. In the past three years, the Joker's actions had been the catalyst for taking down the entire Bat-Clan (though he was really surprised the Batman had not killed him) and transformed Gotham City into a police state. Crime was at an all-time low, though the murder of criminals was at an all-time high! 

Perhaps Jim was releasing his anger through the Huntress. The Joker had often pondered that and realized that if it were true, he and the elder cop had a lot in common. Both wrestled with inner demons of tremendous destructive nature; both of them were living a lifestyle that was going to eventually kill them. Both Gordon and the Joker had essentially eliminated or alienated any allies they previously had, and both of them had psychotic girlfriends that would kill for them at the drop of a dime.

Yet, Jim Gordon felt his pain and the Joker felt none. It wasn't fair, but it also meant that in the end, this game of moral chess would end with the Joker taking Gordon's figurative king.

If he failed, then the Joker would be dead and that's all he wanted anyway, deep down inside. Those thoughts rumbled their way through his mind as he posed for pictures with his son, the young boy making some attempt at conversation with his father. The Joker looked down and into the boy's eyes and felt absolutely nothing. His DNA was inside this small child and it meant as much to the Joker as if the boy were a ham sandwich.

When Barbara returned several hours later to retrieve the boy, the Joker made it a point to stand back in the shadows. He wanted to observe Lois and Barbara without them seeing him. He understood well enough that his very presence could incite the worst of emotions and feelings in people. In their exchanges between each other and Harleen, he did recognize the signs of two people who were very close. Again, a memory thread made its way into his brain and he saw the face of the woman who had once been his wife. 

The memory was gone, leaving behind no emotional aftertaste, as it always was. However, lack of emotion did not mean lack of imagination and the Joker often spent his free time, when he wasn't conversing with inner demons, to formulate complex plans.

Originally, he had intended Jim Gordon to murder him, or to at least convince the Batman to do it. After all, the Joker had raped and sodomized both Jim and Barbara. Apparently, that wasn't extreme enough, so he tried to turn the system against Gordon. But Gordon, unrepentantly, had divorced himself from his daughter and that Batman, wrought with guilt over his best friend's moral demise, had given up as well, preferring to live happily ever after in the Greek Isles.

"Smart fucker," the Joker mumbled as he was led back to his cell. Even the upcoming doom of Nightwing, which promised to be a spectacular miscarriage of justice, would not be enough to drive Jim Gordon to that edge where he and the Joker would face off man to man. No, he needed something else and he still felt that his trump card was Barbara Gordon.

He had violated, demoralized, and humiliated Jim Gordon's daughter.

Now it was time to get serious.


	13. Chapter 13

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 13

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"We've put this off for as long as we could, Rich," the lawyer said. Dick could understand the man's frustration. Every attempt at negotiating a fair settlement with the Joker's lawyer concerning Dick's assault had fallen through. Then, to top things off, it appeared that the Gotham "good-old-boy" network was working its way through the judicial system. 

Dick Grayson had no criminal record and was, for all intents and purposes, a model citizen. Still, the criminal court judge was considering giving Dick the maximum sentence unless the lawyer could convince him otherwise. The prosecutor, a man hoping to run for congress the next year, was delighted to be putting away one of Gotham's golden boys and wasn't lifting a finger to help out. "Did you do something to this Judge Wankerhan in a past life?"

Dick laughed and shook his head. Two weeks before it seemed as if the world was going to come to an end. The alien monster Mongul had destroyed Coast City and four people pretending to be Superman raised from the dead had done nothing to stop him. The loss of life was incredible but the stain to the memory of the greatest hero ever was just the spoiled icing on top of the ruined cake.

Then, like a messianic figure rising from the dead, Superman returned and set things right. Coast City was gone and that was a terrible thing, but now there was a good chance that it would never happen again.

And that was the best thing Dick could hope for right now. 

The past year had been an odd one. It started with Superman's death and his and Jennie's sudden, uncontrollable lovemaking. From that experience love had grown, but not without its share of bumps. Barbara had been so pissed that she still wasn't speaking to him and it was ironic that Dick was facing two years in prison for defending her honor.

Then Bruce had returned to Gotham City, but had yet to don the Batman costume again. Selina was with him with a wedding band on but no bun in the oven and she soon became the mother hen of Wayne Manor. Alfred, though, was still absent from the Manor, preferring it seemed to remain by Barbara's side while she raised James on her own.

And on her own was exactly what she was. There had been rumors about a relationship between her and Lois Lane and Dick had to admit it got his curiosity piqued, but he had been told in very plain language to stay away. That had suited Jennie just fine who had stepped into the role of his girlfriend without missing a beat. Through her, Dick managed to talk with Obsidian and even secured him an interview with the new Justice League.

"So, it doesn't look good?" Dick asked.

The lawyer looked at him with disbelief and then started laughing. "If I could have gotten this changed to a different jurisdiction, maybe. I don't know what sinister force has a grip on the local judges…" he made a motion with his hand like he was choking someone, "but it has choked the justice from the system! It's like there is someone behind the scenes pulling all of the strings."

"You noticed it too?" Dick asked as he got up and went into the kitchen. Jennie was in there, dressed in a halter-top and cutoff shorts, her favorite formal wear. She was cutting up carrots and watching the small television. They were still living in Barry Allen's old apartment rent-free. That did nothing to help Dick's self-esteem.

He reached into the refrigerator and pulled out two diet sodas. When he closed the door, he came face to face with the small photograph of James. The boy was going on four and his hair was turning red. He had his mother's eyes but also the long slender nose of the Joker. Alfred had sent him the photograph.

"Hey, baby," Jennie said as she walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

"Hey," he relied, taking his eyes slowly moving away from the picture to his girlfriend. She had let her hair grow long and straight since they got together, though it was still green. "Watching the news?" he asked.

"Yep; looks like there's a new Green Lantern in town. A young one at that. Kind of cute." She saw the sour look Dick was giving her. "Oh, don't worry, I'm addicted to Dick." It was her favorite line besides "I love you".

Dick took another offered kiss and then went back into the living room. His lawyer was still shaking his head. "Rich, a bit of advice off of the record…"

Handing over the soda, Dick shrugged and sat down as the lawyer continued. "Leave."

"What?"

"You have the money. This is a bullshit case and we both know it. The Joker murders hundreds of people, rapes innocent women and gets to sit in Arkham Asylum while they want to throw you into Blackgate." The lawyer pinched the bridge of his nose and swore. "The only thing else we can do is throw ourselves on the mercy of the court and work on an appeal."

Dick sighed and sat back. Bruce had already spoken with him and indicated that he would look into the entire issue from the background. But, as he had pointed out, he had broken the very first rule that he had been taught when becoming Robin. "If you break the law, expect to pay a price," the Batman had said. 

Dick always argued that as vigilantes they were technically violating criminals' civil rights.

"Who all will be there?" Dick asked, trying to change the subject. 

"Well, I talked to Barbara's lawyer and she…"

"'She'?"

"Yep, another lawyer." The attorney leaned in close. "Seems that Barbara is facing another motion in court by the Joker and this one is a doozy!"

"But you can't tell me, can you?" Dick said sarcastically.

"All I can say is that the Joker has a big set of them," the lawyer commented.

Dick looked over at the shoulder of his lover and girlfriend wondering if she was sleeping yet. "I'm awake," she said as she back up to him, placing her cold bottom against his stomach.  "It's hard to sleep, you know?"

"Worried about me?"

She flipped over and propped herself up on her elbow. The thin cover fell away, revealing her breast and he felt the familiar stirring. She saw the look in his eye and wanted to oblige, but there was something they needed to talk about. "I'll wait for you," she said.

Dick reached over and traced the outline of her shoulder and chest with his index finger. "I don't think that there is any prison that could be made to keep the daughter of Green Lantern out."

"I'm serious, Dick," she said. "This past year has been so great. I've never been so happy." She started to cry and he pulled her close. "I don't want you to go."

He imagined that those were the words that Barbara had been thinking when she discovered his infidelity. He felt guilty about it but there was nothing he could do about it now. He loved Barbara, loved her on a level that was too difficult to explain. He was sure that she loved him as well, but his decision to end their relationship had damaged their friendship beyond repair it seemed.

Jennie, however, was able to look past Dick's flaws. She had stood patiently on the sidelines while he took care of his problems with Barbara. She had been supportive of his desire to maintain a relationship with James, even if Barbara hadn't. In exchange, he had done his best to get her brother away from the corruption that was Gotham City.

And there was the thing that really consumed Dick's deeper thoughts. It wasn't like the whole world was going mad, but more like the city had. Barbara's rape seemed to have offended the Great Lady and she had tossed away her favored children in her anger. The Batman was essentially dead, as was Nightwing and Batgirl. Jim Gordon had become involved in a revenge scheme that probably cost him his soul. The top crime-fighter in Gotham City now was the Huntress and she was a pathological killer with a badge (when the Oracle Group was dissolved by the state, the county had stepped in an deputized her).

"I'm pregnant," Jennie whispered.

Dick's jaw dropped. "How?"

She gave him a "no-shit" look and he realized how stupid the question had been. "Dick, I love you and…"

"I thought you were on the pill?" Dick asked as he sat up and turned on the light. She sat up as well and pulled the cover over her. He realized she was probably scared of his reaction and he wasn't being very supportive. He took a deep breath. "Look, it's just that I think that people who have children together should be married."

"Fine. Marry me."

"That's the worst proposal I ever heard," Dick lamented. 

"The pill isn't 100% effective, dear; you have strong sperm. It goes with the biceps," she said, wanting him to smile. He finally did and she started to feel better. "I wasn't sure until I saw Dr. Mid-Nite."

"But I'm going to jail tomorrow…probably," he said, the weight of the statement even heavier on his shoulders. "Shit."

"You shouldn't go around punching people," she chided, but it wasn't a joking matter. "You know, I could get this fixed," she said holding up her palm. The green power-pulse from where she got her powers glowed. "A little mental suggestion, maybe?"

"So I can have your father beat me up? God, what is he going to say?"

She leaned over and kissed him. "If you marry me, then he won't say anything."

He eyed her suspiciously. "That sounds a lot like a shotgun wedding…"

She threw back the covers, revealing her emerald body. Even after all of the times he had viewed it, he still found himself speechless. The first time they had made love, he thought the world was going insane when in fact she had become his anchor in sanity. He did love her.

Yet marriage frightened him and it always had because of the implications. Once someone got married, they were expected to have children and then there was the chance those children would become orphans. He wanted kids so much but he was afraid of creating another one of him, or worse, another Bruce.

Perhaps it was the reason why he had always picked women that were so difficult. Even though he and Kory had been engaged, he knew they would never marry. The same was with Barbara; there was a woman who could never settle down for hearth and home, whether by her decision or not. Their friendship had kept him on the periphery, putting his life on hold and now…

"We're leaving," he said finally.

"What?" she asked, not believing it.

"My lawyer is right; this entire case against me is bullshit. Somehow the Joker is pulling the strings and I need more time to figure out how. Meekly going to jail isn't going to solve the problem." He stood up and walked over to the window. "I have a place in Canada and Bruce is good friends with their Minister of Justice."

Jennie tumbled out of the bed and raced up to him, grabbing him from behind. "You're going to fight back?"

"My stupidity was the start, but my humility should have ended it. The Joker is pushing this for everything its worth, but I don't know why." He turned to her and met her lips. "I love you Jennie; will you go on the lam with me?"

She laughed. "Toronto is a great place for photo shoots! Yes, I'll go with you!"

She stepped away and went into the walk-in closet, reappearing a moment later with a bundle. She unfolded it to reveal the Nightwing costume. "Now, let's play my favorite game."

"Fine," he said with a wink. "I'm the super-hero and you're the evil green smuggler…"

"Did you hear about your ex-boyfriend?"

Barbara looked to her lawyer. "Charlene, I have many ex-boyfriends. None of them are worth the conversation."

"Seems Mr. Grayson skipped town before his sentencing and has surfaced in Canada. They have refused to extradite him for lack of evidence." She chuckled. "They said in a Canadian court he would have gotten six hours of community service, not the two years the judge was wanting to hand down." She saw the look on Barbara's face. "Girlfriend, let me tell you something: that boy loved you, but you allowed the separation. Stupid. Never let a man live on his own!"

Barbara nodded. She knew she should have fought with Dick to stay, but she was so concerned about losing James. The boy was in preschool, paid for by Bruce Wayne, the unofficial grandfather of the boy. Since returning to Gotham City, Bruce and Selina had been doing a lot of charity work. The goals of the Batman were the same only now he wanted to end the cycle of violence that had created the situation for Barbara's rape. 

So long as the Joker remained in Arkham, Barbara was sure the Batman would remain at Wayne Manor. "It doesn't really matter now," Barbara said. She looked over at the Petitioner's table and saw the Joker there with the same lawyer, Dr. Quinzel seated just behind them, smirking.

"Do you have any idea what this is about?" Barbara asked.

"According to the papers, the Joker is claiming you are an unfit mother." Charlene looked through the motion papers again. "There is a claim that you can't raise young James in a, and I quote, 'proper environment that is suitable to meet the desires and requirements of both parents'." She put them down. "Is there anything I should know, some dark secret in your past?"

Barbara didn't know where to begin. "No," she lied.

Charlene didn't believe her, but she understood that this woman with the tired look in her eyes had endured so much in the past few years that she had the right to keep some secrets, even from her attorney. Charlene was used to dealing with dead-beat dads and abusive spouses, but dealing with a homicidal madman that suddenly wanted to be civil was much more of a legal challenge.

Judge Wankerhan stepped in and the bailiff called everyone to rise. Barbara did not see the twinkle in Dr. Quinzel's eyes as she met the judge's gaze. He understood what was expected of him today. 

The Joker's lawyer began the proceeding by stating that the Joker was concerned about the moral environment that young James was being exposed to. "Exactly what are you talking about?" the judge asked.

"Well, sir, the Mr. Napier believes that raising a male child in a household dominated by the lesbian lifestyle is not conductive to a healthy mental state." He smiled and looked to Charlene. "And I think if anyone can attest to the problems with a poor mental state, it is my client."

"Your honor," Charlene started with a quick look to Barbara. She was seething with anger. "There is no requirement under the laws of this state that a single parent adhere to any certain lifestyle, so long as that lifestyle does not endanger the child."

"Hold on," the judge said, raising a hand. "You can't be serious about this counselor."

The Joker's lawyer shrugged. "My job is to present my client's argument, your honor. Mr. Napier is a converted Catholic and he is required by his faith to ensure that his child is raised in a good home. He understands that because of his past actions, he is unable to raise the child himself…"

"Because he's a manipulative, psychotic killer and rapist! Your honor, you cannot even begin to consider this motion. I was under the impression that Mr. Napier believed that my client was abusing her son."

"My client," the Joker's lawyer began, "believes that to be so. His position is that gay relationships create an environment that is detrimental to proper social attitude."

"So, what does his client propose, your honor? Perhaps the child should go on a killing spree and rape a nun!" Charlene took a deep breath and let it out, knowing full well what the price of Contempt of Court was in front of this judge. "Courts throughout the land have held up the rights of same-sex partners to raise children."

"Certainly; but how many studies have been conducted to see what the effects are? My client is convinced that in an effort to try and appear politically correct, the courts have jumped the gun." The lawyer reached down and picked up a large stack of papers. "These are all studies conducted by many prominent sociologists and psychiatrists that conclude that children raised in same-sex partner homes are more likely to have anti-social behavior."

"You honor," Charlene said, gripping the edge of the table. "This is nothing more than veiled bigotry against gays. For that matter, there is no conclusive evidence that my client is gay. She lived with another woman for a year; this is not uncommon. I had a college roommate, does that mean I'm gay?"

The judge paused and then shook his head. "Alright then, Ms. Gordon, would you stand up please?"

Barbara did so, very slowly, her eyes burning with inner anger and fury. Her entire life was not being put on display, just as her body had been when she had been raped. It never stopped. "Ms. Gordon, I realize that this is a personal question and your lawyer would advise you that you do not have to answer this question. However, this is important. You can end this right now by answering the question." He paused and then spoke slowly. "Are you gay?"

She nearly started crying and ranting at the same time. Charlene leaned over and told her not to answer, to take the Fifth as it was called. She could not be made to make any statements that might incriminate her and there was no way the judge could force her to answer it anyway. He could ask it, but she could refuse to answer.

Barbara took a deep breath.

"Your honor, Mr. Napier, Mr. Napier's attorney…all of you can kiss my ass," she said in a voice that was almost too calm. 

"Excuse me?" the judge said. Harleen worked very hard to keep her face straight. It was going exactly as she had thought it would. Barbara Gordon had been pushed to the edge too many times; her hold on reality was starting to crumble. It was by sheer luck that Clark Kent had been found, forcing a separation between Gordon and Lois Lane.

The Joker had seen it and told her that it was time for the final phase of their plan in which all of their enemies would pay a heavy price for the relative peace they had received over the past few years. It would start with, as always, the child.

It was funny that the legal system, set up to protect the rights of children, was the greatest weapon to use against them. The Joker had dreamed up the lesbian issue a year before, but had to go through the Catholic conversion process to make it seem legitimate. The judge was supposed to let the arguments boil over into a mess and then call for a series of hearings that would allow experts to offer testimony as to whether or not same-sex parents were worse than the jerks that were already raising children out there.

In the meantime, young James would be shuttled off to foster care and Harleen was already in bed with a social worker who would see to it that James got the worst parents possible. Hopefully, that would bring old Jim Gordon back into the mix and the little bitch he was sleeping with now as well. 

That would in turn shake the bats out of the belfry.


	14. Chapter 14

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 14

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

"Are you sure you want me to read this, Puddin'?" Dr. Quinzel asked the Joker. The master madman of Arkham Asylum nodded and continued eating his peas and carrots. They were alone in the cafeteria; the Joker's continued progress had allowed him many more.

That was more than he had hoped for when he had begun his complex plan of revenge; a plan that he wasn't too sure was going his way now. Harleen cleared her throat. "'There can be no doubt that Gotham City has changed over the past five years. The once great Mecca of conservative values has now become something akin to a Liberal Wonderland. Where once the iron rule of law and order dictated the actions of the citizens, the city has been transformed, literally, into a madhouse where it appears anything goes.'"

The Joker stabbed at some vegetables. "Sounds like Lois got her head out of someone's crotch long enough to actually do some news reporting."

Harleen didn't respond, but she knew what he was talking about. A few months before they had tried to push Barbara Gordon over the edge by forcing her to confess to being a lesbian. She had cursed the judge and had been promptly thrown in jail. Then her lawyer joined forces with Lois Lane, Barbara's supposed ex-lover, and began a series of articles detailing the degrading legal system in Gotham County.

"'It was only six years ago that Gotham City was a place feared except by the truly insane, by those who could not fathom the awful price they would pay for violating society's rules in the jurisdiction of Commissioner James Gordon. After the rape of his daughter at the hands of the Joker, Gordon led a personal crusade to crack down on crime. His tactics were hailed by state conservatives but were decried by the ACLU and civil libertarians. Then, after a series of odd rulings in both civil and criminal courts, conducted by a small pool of judges, the tone in Gotham changed.'

"'State representatives from Gotham County were able to throw political and monetary might behind their candidate for governor and soon any attempt at common sense police work was cast aside in favor of over-achieving political correctness. According to the attorney for Barbara Gordon, who has filed several complaints against judges in Gotham County with the state bar, there is no rhyme or reason for the rulings being handed down by local judiciaries.'" 

The Joker looked even more disgusted as she read the words, a eulogy to the plans he had made. He knew exactly what the problem was; he had been too patient, he ad allowed his foes to recover from every blow instead of pressing the attack. Harleen continued. "'It's like a disease running through the body of justice in Gotham County; no decision makes sense. In one case, they decide that a homicidal maniac can have visitation rights, but then in another they say a woman who is a lesbian cannot raise a child. In one word, it's bullsh&%!' the attorney said when interviewed for this article.'"

"Is that a direct quote?" the Joker asked. Harleen said it was. "That's the lawyer I should have hired," he grumbled. His own lawyer finally had been arrested on drug possession charges. The running joke was that only a lawyer who was high on crack would represent the Joker.

Harleen decided that her patient had heard enough. "With Wankerhan now under investigation…"

The Joker smacked the table with a palm. "God damn it! How did he get found out? I thought your little sessions with him were private?"

Harleen looked away, for once not able to keep a calm face. "Somebody found out some information about him. He had some activities prior to him coming to me. He left a trail."

"You'd think a fucking judge would know better. It was Grayson, that little son of a bitch! He runs to Canada and suddenly he thinks he's Batman, investigating everything…" The Joker cursed some more and stood up. "What about my son?"

"The judge in Metropolis said no way; your son stays there. If you want to see him, you have to go there," she said. "It was a mistake to piss off Lois Lane."

The Joker rubbed his chin. "Then I guess the time for acting is over," he said and suddenly he burst out in laughter. For the first time in years he was free again to act as he truly felt. No more waiting for stimulus; he could now make it happen.

He had always kept a back-up plan in the rear of his mind, next to his favorite dark thoughts. He had started the entire affair of going for child custody just for the hell of it, to see how far he could get and he really had done better than what he had expected. "I need to get out of here," he said.

"Puddin'…"

"Shut the fuck up, Harl and do what I tell you!" he barked. She stepped back and dropped the newspaper. His face twisted in rage. "It's time for the finale!"

Barbara answered the knock at her door, not really expecting anyone and for the first time in what seemed like forever, not worried about it either. For several months now, ever since the final court battle in Metropolis, she had been enjoying a life of semi-normalcy.

It was just she and James now, though she had been asked out several times by various members of the Metropolis single's scene. She didn't want to get into another relationship, not after the way her last two had ended. Dick had betrayed her and Lois had broken her heart when her husband had returned from the dead. Maybe getting with Lois had been a mistake because it had done something to their friendship. Where they had been close, they were now distant.

She was, of course, thankful for all that Lois had done for her, but she realized that the ace reporter had been trying to ease the guilt she had felt for breaking it off. Barbara realized that Lois's vow to her husband was sacred and in a similar situation, Barbara would do the same thing.

It didn't take away the sting, though.

"I'll get it Alfred!" she called to her live-in butler. The loyal manservant, formerly in the constant employ of billionaire Bruce Wayne, had remained by her side through every mess. She approached the door and opened it.

Jim Gordon stood there, his face betraying the nervousness he felt. "Daddy?" she asked.

They were embracing before he could respond, tears flowing so much that their shoulders and collars were soon stained with marks of wetness. "Daddy!" she cried into her father's shoulder.

They finally parted and Jim looked down to see his grandson standing next to his mother, wearing a Gotham Knights shirt and a WayneTech baseball cap. "Are you my grandpa?" the child asked.

Jim looked at Barbara and she nodded silently and more tears started rolling from her eyes. Alfred peaked his head out from the kitchen and immediately went to fetch tissues. Jim hunkered down and looked his grandson in the face. He could see his daughter in the boy's eyes, but there was no mistaking his father. Over the years the boy had started to develop the long face that was characteristic of the Joker. 

Jim coughed and smiled. "Yes I am. I'm sorry I'm late."

The boy looked confused and thought he had a solution to the problem. "Lunch isn't ready yet! Do you like peanut butter? Uncle Alf loves to make peanut butter everything." Then the boy gave up a wide grin, wanting to impress the older male. "I'm going to be a Batman when I grow up."

Jim laughed and stood up. Barbara couldn't resist giving her father another hug. She was surprised that he didn't smell like whiskey and smoke. He must have read her mind because he immediately explained. "I've been on the wagon for six months. Gave up everything."

"Everything?" Barbara asked.

He nodded. "Helena, too. She's moved to Canada."

"Seems to be the place to go," Barbara said, pulling her father inside. Alfred appeared, greeted the former commissioner and offered a tissue. Barbara grabbed the entire box. 

"I was hoping to get to know my grandson," Jim said.

Barbara grabbed her father. "Thank you, daddy…"

Charlene smiled as Barbara told her the news. "So, he's still playing with the little guy?" she asked. Barbara said he was and she laughed. "Will miracles never cease?"

As Barbara continued to relay the events of the day to her new best friend, Charlene carefully examined her latest motion with a yellow highlighter. After several minutes she had to beg off. "I love hearing this, dear, but I've got court in the morning. I'm going after some dead-beat dads and you know how much I love that!"

She hung up the phone, promising to call again the next night. She heard some rustling outside her office and assumed it was the new janitor. He was a young man with James Dean eyes and though she was married, she found herself lifting the edge of her skirt just a little higher than usual. "Nothing wrong with a little flirting," she said as she chewed on her highlighter.

The door suddenly burst open and she tumbled back in her chair, falling unceremoniously onto the floor. When she looked, a woman in a red and black costume with a white painted face entered. Behind her came several thugs dressed in black. Two of them came forward and picked her up and when she protested, the woman kicked her in the knee.

Charlene screamed as her knee was dislocated. The woman was amazingly strong. "Shut up, bitch!" the woman sneered.

Charlene did as she was told and started to shake from fear. That shaking became a self-centered earthquake when the Joker strolled in. He was clad in his trademark purple suit, fedora and trench coat. "Well, well, look what we have here?" the Joker said. He was holding a knife that was dripping blood. "Seems the custodian has made a mess in the hallway," he said.

Petrified now with fear and turning pale, Charlene began to pray. She knew she was going to die. The Joker saw the resignation in her eyes. "You know, I've been fucked by you so many times in the courtroom, I wonder if I shouldn't return the favor?" the Joker asked.

The henchmen started to laugh and the cold horror of the situation started to permeate Charlene's soul. Barbara had described for her what rape by the Joker was like. Again she prayed silently for a miracle. 

The Joker sat on the edge of her desk and scratched his groin. "I don't know…you're not exactly my type…" he said. "Hey, Harl?" he called to his female partner.

"You're Dr. Quinzel?" Charlene asked, stunned that the psychiatrist was there. It made sense, though, and suddenly so many things were clear to the lawyer.

"It's Harley Quinn, bitch," was the venomous response. Quinn turned to the Joker. "Yes, my love?"

"Should I ask her?"

Charlene couldn't imagine what they were talking about, but the pain in her leg helped to keep her from passing out from fear. "Go ahead, Puddin'," Quinn responded.

"Do you spit or swallow, counselor?" the Joker asked matter of factly.

"What?"

"Spit or swallow? Come on, now; you're married…I'm sure you have an answer." He waited and then shrugged when she wouldn't answer. "I suppose we'll have to find out," he announced as he dropped down from the desk.

The thugs forced her down on her knees and she cried out as pressure was applied to the damaged one. The Joker stepped forward and she turned her head away, defiant even the face of death. Harley reached down and grabbed her head and with super-human strength, turned her back while a thug forced her mouth open.

The Joker smiled and produced a can of liquid drain cleaner and popped the cap. "Down the hatch!" he said as he poured.

Minutes later, Charlene's body stopped jerking and the Joker nodded his head. The experiment was over he told his assembled colleagues. "That's it! She spits!"

"Lawyers are like that," Harleen said. "Too good to enjoy a good thing!"

The Joker slapped his knee and let loose a hyena laugh that echoed through the office. "Oh, that was rich, Harl! I think we should have thrown her from the window, though. It's so…fitting. All lawyers should be thrown out into the street like bundles of trash."

The thugs understood what the Joker was asking and they grabbed the now lifeless body and carried it over to a large picture window that overlooked the outside parking lot. With a heave, they threw the corpse through the glass and let it fall to the cold concrete below.

Not satisfied yet, the Joker went over to the window and pissed out the edge, sprinkling the dead lawyer with urine.

"We need to get out of here, boss," one of the thugs said, staring a little too long at the Joker's exposed manhood. He gave the henchman a wry look. "Got to watch you, big fella," he said.

Harleen agreed and indicated that she was sure that the broken window would attract some sort of attention, even this late. The Joker told her to quit nagging, but finally relented. "After all, I'm not done yet," he said coldly.


	15. Chapter 15

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 15

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

Jim Gordon thanked his daughter for the wonderful time and promised to call her in the morning to make arrangements for a future visit. As he turned to leave, she stopped him. "Dad, why now?"

He looked tired and pulled off his thick glasses. He wiped them on his shirt, a habit he had picked up decades before when he was contemplating how to answer an especially difficult question. He pursed his lips and then started to speak, but halted before uttering a sound.

Barbara wondered of something was wrong, possibly another heart attack. Finally he smiled. "I had to see of I could put my hate behind me. Now I know the answer." He gave her a quick kiss and again promised to call her. As he walked off towards his car, he didn't realize that he was being watched.

"Harl, that was the worst driving I ever saw," the Joker whispered. Then he patted her bottom. "Good job! Got us here right on time."

"Want us to get the old man, boss?" the thug who liked to watch the Joker pee asked.

The Clown Prince shook his head. "Won't do any good. Kidnapping old Jimmy won't bring the Bat out of retirement, but I know what will." He sniffed the air. "Ah, the smell of Barbara Gordon, how refreshing."

Harley wiggled her eyebrows. "And she likes girls now, too!"

The Joker wiped a tear from his eye and stood up. "God bless America, home of the immoral. A place where lesbians can raise the children of insane bastards and psychiatrists get their jollies killing their patients."

"All 'cept one, Puddin'," she reminded him. They waited until Jim had gotten in his car and drove away, no doubt heading back to Gotham City. "Looks like the coats is clear, my sweet," she cooed.

The Joker wondered why he felt nothing for this woman who was obviously so in love with him. Inwardly, he sighed, realizing that boredom, and not the failing of his plan, was bringing him out of retirement. The only man in the world who could kill him, who could release him from this hell he called life, was the Batman, or so he had thought.

He had carried the vain hope that Nightwing would have done it, but all the Joker managed to do was piss the guy off enough that he left the country to shack up with a human green bean with large melons. He giggled at the pun, amazed that even when he was contemplating his own suicide, he still had the fortitude to crack a joke.

Did Harley know about his secret desires, his innermost wants? If she didn't, then she really sucked as a psychiatrist or else he was just too damn good a patient. "Let's go," he ordered.

The doorbell rang again and Barbara, who was busy trying to round her son up for his bath, begged Alfred to get it. "Of course, Mistress Barbara, that is my purpose in life," he joked. Wiping his hands on a dishtowel he proceeded to get the door. He assumed it was Barbara's father again and he secretly hoped it was.

Serving Barbara had been an honor, but Alfred missed Wayne Manor and serving Bruce Wayne. He understood the man's desire to pursue family life now that he had put the Batman behind him, but that didn't mean that Alfred was done mentoring to the man whom he considered a son. If Barbara and her father mended their disputes, then there was a good chance she would move back to Gotham City. After all, with Lois now back with Clark, there really was no reason to remain here in Metropolis.

Alfred never looked through the peephole, a mistake he would never have made at Wayne Manor, where security was the number one priority. In the years he had spent here, Alfred had gotten complacent. That was natural though and nobody would have blamed him.

He never saw what killed him. There was brief flash and his mind registered the sickening grin that would have said "Oh Lord, there is the Joker", but he was dead before that could happen. A machete went clean through his skull, lodging finally in his shoulder. As pieces of his brain and face fell to the floor with his twitching body, the Joker smirked. "Now, if that doesn't get Batman here, I don't know what will."

The thug that delivered the deathblow reached down for the weapon even as the rest of the group entered the apartment. It didn't take long to find Barbara.

Then they found James.

"Daddy?" the little boy asked as he looked up from his toys in the bathtub. Harley was effectively restraining Barbara in the next room. The Joker nodded and stepped inside the bathroom, closing the door behind him. "Mommy said you can't come visit us."

"Did she?" the Joker asked, smiling like a serpent in the garden. "Well, mommy has been under a lot of stress. There's monsters out you know."

"Monsters?" James asked, suddenly wide-eyed. 

"Oh, yes, like the evil English child eater that's been living with you."

James was confused. He knew what an Englishman was because Alfred had explained it to him. James had tried to copy Alfred's accent but had come out sounding more like an Australian. "Alfred doesn't eat children."

The Joker nodded and then shrugged. "Not anymore, that's for sure." He reached up and got a towel and helped his son out of the tub. "Son, its time for you to understand your legacy."

"My leg of sea?" the boy asked as he dried off.

The Joker couldn't help but smile. "Your very retarded, you know that?"

James laughed at the sound of the word and the Joker could tell the little boy had no idea what the meaning of it was. "Okay, son, let's go out in the hallway and I'll show you something. Then, I'm going to let your mommy help me show you where babies come from…"

"I thought I'd find you here," Superman said as he landed on the balcony of the apartment he and Lois shared. He then moved at super-speed to go change, after scanning the area to ensure nobody was looking.

Lois stood out on the balcony, holding a glass of wine and looking up at the stars. He approached her from behind and gave her a kiss. He didn't need super-powers to tell that it hadn't been warmly received. The tension between them had been almost insurmountable since his return from the dead.

She had told him all about her relationship with Barbara and he had tried to be understanding. He hadn't done a very good job of it; even a Superman could be a jerk when his heart was broken. 

He loved her though and he knew that in the end, they no longer belonged together. "I'm sorry, Kal-El," Lois said, using his Kryptonian name. "I really am."

"I love you, Lois," he said, his fist clenching. It was hard for him to do this, to let her go. "But, it isn't going to work. I'm sorry I died."

"So am I," she said as she turned to him. "I'm glad you're back…"

"But you aren't in love with me anymore, are you?" he asked. She noted how vulnerable he looked as he spoke to her. There was hurt and there was anger, two things you just normally did not see in Superman.

"No…I love her," Lois confessed. She visibly brightened with the confession, but his face darkened. She finished the wine in her glass and walked past him into the apartment. "I'll move out tomorrow."

He stood at the doorway, fighting back the tears that wanted to flow. He knew it was foolish to try and hide his feelings, but he suddenly felt the need to reinforce his manhood. "You don't have to. I'll leave."

She stopped. "You'll be back, won't you? You aren't deserting Metropolis?"

He bit his bottom lip and looked away. "I can't stay here; it hurts too much. There is too much here to remind me of you and what I've lost."

Lois suddenly felt guilty and started to cry. "No! I can't cost the city its Superman! It just got you back…"

"It's not your decision to make," he told her and she realized that for the first time in a long while, he was doing something for himself. "I have some things I've been thinking about doing for awhile now."

She couldn't believe what she hearing and in the blink of an eye, he raced into the bedroom and changed into his costume. She started to say something, hoping to put a positive spin on what was happening, but she realized that it was foolish to do so. There was nothing positive about a broken heart.

There was something else as well and it frightened her slightly. He looked angry and she wondered what thoughts were going through his mind. "Clark…?"

He turned away from her and lifted into the sky. She followed but by the time she was back out on the balcony, he was gone.

"You fucking bastard, " Barbara swore as the Joker entered her again. He had her over the kitchen table, two of his goons holding her arms so she couldn't move. "I'm going to kill you this time, needle dick!"

"Quiet, now, you're going to wake the child," Joker responded as he pulled out and then brought a fist down on the small of her back. She gagged from the pain and he hit her again, the henchmen laughing all the while she struggled.

James was only in the next room, the corner of a wall separating him from the act of sexual carnage being perpetuated on his mother. He was with Harleen, who was explained why Alfred had to die. The sight of the butler's body had nearly sent the boy into shock.

The Joker continued to rape Barbara and she whispered a silent promise to whomever was listening, be they from heaven or hell that she would do anything to get out of this situation. 

He finished and the coldness that had marked his first violation of her so many years before ate its way through her hips and abdomen. Unlike last time, however, the Joker seemed wild in that he didn't have a plan. Instead, he was like a kid in a candy store, running around causing what mayhem he could.

Barbara's concern was for her son right now and her hatred for the Joker kept her from giving in even when one of the thugs got behind to sodomize her. This time she would not cry out, she promised, this time she would not give them satisfaction. She would take the pain because as long as she acted the way the Joker expected, then James would be kept alive she was sure.

Naked, the Joker walked past Barbara and went for the telephone hanging on the wall. Humming loudly in an effort to keep the moans of the henchmen from interrupting his concentration. He punched in a telephone number that he knew as well as the date when he first became the Joker. Before that date, he had been in what he called the "pupa" stage; a failed husband, father and criminal. He almost felt a tinge of regret.

The line on the other end picked up and a female's voice answered. "Wayne residence."

The Joker walked with the phone as far away from the rape scene as possible and cleared his throat. He applied his deepest baritone. "Yes, Snidely Whiplash here to speak with Bruce Wayne."

"I'm afraid my husband is busy right now," Selina answered.

"Oh, tut-tut, my dear; him and I are old friends from the college days and I'm in Metropolis for a spell. Hoping to treat him to lunch!" She responded that she would see if he wanted to talk. The Joker waited for a few minutes and popped his head around the corner.

The sodomist was finished, but apparently his partners were not. Another thug was flipping Barbara over to commit further sexual assault while another, more sadistic man held a knife to her throat. He almost said something but decided that dead or alive, it didn't matter to him. Not now.

The endgame was afoot.

Bruce Wayne then came on the line. "This is Bruce Wayne, Mr. Whiplash. Do we know each other?"

The Joker switched his voice back to normal. "Oh, Bruce, you and I are the greatest of friends."

There was a pause. "What do you want?"

"Didn't you hear? I'm free?" he said before cackling. "Guess its time to put on the cape and cowl!"

"No. I'll call someone who cares…"

"Little Dickie? He ran off to play with the Canucks! It's only you, old buddy!"

Bruce was adamant. "Batman is dead, Joker. He cost too many their innocence and their lives. I've put the past behind me."

"Would it help if I said please?" the Joker asked. Then Bruce must have looked down at his caller ID and noticed where it was that the Joker was speaking to him from. 

"She has nothing to do with this, Joker; you've done enough," he growled. 

"Actually, I'm not the one doing anything to her anymore," the Joker said. As if on cue, despite herself, Barbara let out a scream of pain. "You know, it's funny but I think motherhood has made her a better fuck."

"Bastard…have you no soul? What about your son?" Bruce was by now yelling and Selina could be heard in the background asking what was wrong. 

"Oh, he's alright…for a child that just viewed the hacked up body of an Englishman," the Joker whispered. Then he hung up the phone and waited. Moments later, it rang.

"I'm coming," Bruce said.


	16. Chapter 16

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 16

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

No matter what he did, the Joker thought as another gauntleted fist struck him in the stomach, he just couldn't get it right. It didn't matter to what depths of depravity he lowered himself to. It didn't matter how many innocent lives he destroyed. He could kill as many people as the Nazis. 

And nobody had the balls to kill him in return.

As he went down, the Batman stepped back and delivered a kick to the Joker's jaw, sending the Clown Prince flying back. Harley was engaged with the Batwoman and, surprise, surprise he thought, Nightwing and the pregnant green chick were taking down his thugs.

On the outside of the apartment complex, police searchlights were shining into the window as some MPD negotiator tried to coax the Joker's gang out peacefully.

The Joker spit out his crown, more dental work would be required for him, and he looked up at the Batman. The Bat was full of rage, but he knew that he would stop himself from killing the Joker. He had failed; he was out of options.

"It's just not fair," he mumbled as he received a blow to the temple. He knew that after the Batman knocked him cold, he would be transported back to Gotham and tossed into his nice padded cell. Harley would probably get one too and then the Joker would have to listen to her pine for him for the rest of his miserable life. 

How he wished he could just summon the courage to kill himself.

He accepted the rest of the strikes without further comment; what did he care? It was all over anyway.

The Joker finally fell and Batman whirled to see of his wife needed help. Harley Quinn was no match for the combined tactics of Jade and Batwoman and soon she also dropped to the floor, bloodied and bruised. Nightwing dispatched the last of the thugs with a roundhouse kick that surely would have killed the man had the hero wanted it.

Batman and Nightwing then raced to Barbara who was covering her son with her naked and abused body. Batman pulled off his cape and Nightwing pulled off his mask. As the Caped Crusader covered Barbara, Nightwing reached for the boy. "It's okay, James, it's me, Uncle Dick. Do you remember me?"

The boy, shock in his eyes, nodded and jumped into the awaiting arms. He started crying and Nightwing pulled him close. Barbara was crying as well. She knew that with the four heroes here, she would never be able to murder the Joker.

Several police officers in S.W.A.T. gear entered the apartment and Jade threw up a protective green barrier around them just in case some cop got careless with the firearms. Barbara cast a side-glance at the woman who was now Ms. Richard Grayson and was surprised that she felt no hostility towards the woman. Batman put a reassuring arm around her. "I'm going to get you out of here," he said quietly.

"Alfred…" she started, her mouth trembling. The physical pain she felt was no match for the tearing of her soul as she watched medical technicians shake their heads as they examined the body.

Batwoman stepped up. "Now is not the time," she warned, indicating all of the civilians.

A police captain stepped forward and began asking questions. The Batman stared hard at him, but he wasn't swayed. "I don't give a rat's fucking ass how bad you are in that sicko town you're from, Pointy," the veteran cop started. "In Metropolis, you answer my questions." He emphasized the point by poking Batman in the chest. 

The Batman quickly grabbed the man's wrist; his years of inaction had not dulled his reflexes. Several officers drew their weapons and pointed them at the heroes. Before anyone could say anything, another voice begged for reason. "Let's not get carried away, captain," Superman said as he strode in. He nodded to the Batman. "You have my word that Batman is one of the good guys, a personal friend of mine."

The cops lowered their weapons, not willing to go against the say-so of Superman. The captain shook his head and walked off, telling Superman that he still expected a statement. Superman said he would take care of it and then looked down at the Joker. "So, that's the one who destroyed my life."

Barbara looked at Superman and she heard the pain in his voice. "Oh, yeah, he raped you and tortured your son, didn't he you self-righteous son of a bitch!"

Superman gave her a hard look. "You're in distress, Ms. Gordon," he said. Not so long ago, she would have counted the Man of Steel as one of her best friends. That was before she and Lois had fallen in love. "I'll try not to take offense at your comments."

Nightwing intervened. "Both of you shut up," he snapped quickly as Jade waddled over to take James away from earshot. "You're disturbing the boy! He's been through enough."

Superman realized that Nightwing was correct and his better judgment told him to leave. He once again informed the police that Batman was to be given all the respect one would expect from a first-rate crime fighter. Without another word, he turned and left.

Barbara leaned against Batman. "I really don't feel good," she said.

Batwoman called for a medical technician and they wheeled a gurney over. Both Batman and his bride helped to lay her down. One of the techs looked her over. "I think she's bleeding internally," he announced and they hurried her out of the apartment.

Downstairs, a throng of press met them. Lois burst out from behind the police barricade and ran to Barbara's side. Nightwing was quick to come up from behind and explain it was all right to the officers holding the line. With some reluctance, they let Lois hop into the ambulance. The driver, however, would not let Nightwing in. When he protested, the driver gave him the quick lecture. "I'm the captain of this vessel; I say who rides and who don't. Anyone in a costume that doesn't have an 'S' on the front stays the fuck out!"

Nightwing backed away and he suddenly felt sad. This would have been a great chance for him and Barbara to come to terms with the break-up of their relationship, but it was no use now. 

As the ambulance pulled away, he wondered why he felt like he would never get the chance to tell her he was sorry.

"What will you do about James?" Bruce Wayne asked. They were all in the study of Wayne Manor, the entire family as it were, with the exception of Dick and Jennie. The night before she had given birth to a fair-skinned boy. They had named him John in memory of Dick's real father.

Jim Gordon sighed and looked over at the boy who was standing alone next to a large window, looking out at the vast expanse of the Wayne Estate. He had attended far too many funerals for such a young man. First they had buried Alfred, next to Bruce's mother and father, in a grave Bruce had expected to put himself in.

The playboy had simply never conceived of outliving the man who had raised him.

Earlier that morning they had buried Barbara.

Helena, sitting next to Jim, squeezed his arm as the older man returned his attention to the man who was the Batman. "I don't know." He smiled. "I don't suppose that you'd be interested…"

"No. God, no, I can't do it again."

"I'm not sure…" the broken-hearted man said and he again fell into a spasm of tears and sniffles. Selina came in with a tray of cold drinks and sandwiches and set it down on a table. She moved over to stand next to her husband. 

"If it's a money thing," Bruce started, but Jim said it wasn't and then excused himself. Instead of going to the boy, though, they heard him leave out the front door. Bruce started to go after him but Helena suggested that he didn't. "He's my friend," Bruce said. He felt as if he had failed too many of those in recent years. 

The point was made moot when they heard Jim's car pull away from the house.

The Joker had read about Barbara's death but otherwise didn't think much about it. Maybe it was better that she was gone he mused; maybe it wasn't. He just didn't care anymore.

The new, more conservative judges that had been appointed to the local family court would not even entertain the Joker's motions concerning his son. As far as they reckoned, he had about as much right to see James as he did to being set free.

Harleen was in a cell in another part of the Asylum; the new staff thought it better to isolate her from the rest of the population. For that small token, the Joker was eternally thankful. He didn't care if he ever got laid again and that's all she was good for anyway.

"Got a visitor, Joker," a burly attendant said. All that had been under the Joker's control were now doing hard time a various penal institutions, far from the Joker's influence. Again, he didn't mind it so much because at least he had some quiet time with the voices in his head now.

The orderly led the Joker through a series of tunnels; there was no chance the Joker would try to escape. He wasn't interested anymore in pursuing his dreams of death by Batman, but was instead content to live out his days here, being the lab-rat for the doctors.

He had gotten as close to dying as he figured he was ever going to. He had failed. It was ironic that the first real emotion the Joker had felt since his turning was shame.

Jim Gordon sat behind a large pane of two-inch thick Lexan. The Joker sat down and the orderly left them alone. The Joker was simply no longer a danger as far as the staff was concerned, so long as he was kept within the Asylum. "You win," Jim said.

"I'm sorry, Jimmy, but I don't think I get the game," the Joker responded. He supposed that the old man would spout off now, releasing the anger inside of him on the person whom he saw as responsible for his daughter's death. The Joker, of course, denied that charge because he didn't actually kill her. He had just raped her.

Twice.

"I remember once that you said that you wanted to make me think just the way you do, and I always assumed that you wanted me to become as insane as you appear to be." He shook his head. "I vowed never to step over that line, that I would stick to my principles no matter what. I enforced the law…"

"Please, Jimmy, your Oracle Group killed the Riddler and God knows how many other bad guys," the Joker responded with a snort. 

"Those were legal; I never got the chance to put a bullet in you in the line of duty," Jim pointed out. "Then Barbara got pregnant with your boy and I begged her to have an abortion."

"They are tasty," the Joker said.

"But she wouldn't and I hated her for that and I hated the boy for what he represented and soon, I didn't just hate, I was numb. I had a beautiful younger woman in my bed, but I felt nothing. I had a grandson and I couldn't, no matter what I did, feel the love or joy I needed to feel. Somewhere along the line, you took my soul." He pulled his glasses off so he couldn't focus on the Joker's smirking face. "I was lost, I had nobody I could talk to…I couldn't even talk to God. Even when I got off the booze and the smokes and visited my daughter, I could not summon the love. Without love there is no salvation, no redemption. That's what its like for you, isn't it?"

The Joker said nothing, but was visibly uncomfortable. James replaced his glasses and saw that the smirk was gone. "I want to hate you, but I can't. I cry tears because I want to feel something, but I don't. There is no pity. There is no hate. No anger. No despair. There's just nothing. I guess somewhere along the line the line everybody sort of forgot about me; everybody was so interested in helping Barbara, they forgot about saving James."

He laughed gently. "I don't blame them. I don't blame you. I'm just weary of the emptiness. So, I came to tell you that you win. I'm just like you, you poor son of a bitch. If I was younger, hell, and feeling like this, I'd probably try to get Batman to kill me too." He reached into his raincoat and pulled out his pistol, a reminder of his days as police commissioner.

In that instant, the Joker felt joy. Emotion poured into him as he realized it was about to end. Death was on hand and he almost pissed himself. "Yes," he whispered, narrowing his eyes. He wanted to see the bullet coming. He wanted to greet death with a smile and a handshake.

Jim turned the gun of his own chest and pulled the trigger. 

The Joker screamed in pure primal fury. "No! God damn you! No!"

He jumped at the glass and pounded it with all of his might, screaming curses as Jim Gordon fell back and onto the floor. Blood was pooling around his body and the small of charred meat filled the air. So intense on his tirade, the Joker did not hear the orderlies as they rushed in to restrain him.

Hours later, the Joker was allowed to go into the exercise yard to let go the pent up energy within him. An orderly with a snapped neck found him. 

An official investigation was announced to the super-hero community by members of the Justice Society into the death of the Joker. Several people were brought in to be questioned, including both Batman and Superman. The Man of Steel denied that he had committed the murder and his word was accepted without question.

Batman was grilled for several days but remained absolute that he had not done it. It finally took a mind probe by the Martian Manhunter to clear his name. After Nightwing was also cleared when his wife testified that he had been in Canada with her at the time of the Joker's death, he was given the assignment of finding out who the culprit was. 

It was a mission he swore would be completed.


	17. Chapter 17

ElseWorlds™: Saving James

Chapter 17

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: Refer to chapter 1 for the disclaimer for this entire story.

Arsenal spit out some blood and then touched his split lip. He winced. "Why do I get the shit beat out of me every time our teams get together?"

Nightwing laughed and put his hands on his knees as he doubled over. Around them, the various members of the Titans (U.S.) and Titans (Canada) were backslapping and congratulating each other over their victory over the Injustice League. "Would have been nice if the Justice League had been around to help," Nightwing said as he tried to stand up. His back simply hurt too much and he sagged to his knees.

Arsenal plopped down beside him. "So, how's little John?"

"Fat," Nightwing said. His baby son was becoming famous throughout Canada for his love of breast milk. He wondered if he resented the little boy for getting more of Jennie's chest than he was. The thought brought a chuckle. Arsenal took that as a good sign and then asked about James Gordon.

Nightwing had taken the boy in after his grandfather's suicide. It was ironic that the one man who Barbara Gordon had loved more than life itself had not only betrayed her, but had also ended up raising her child. "He's…adjusting," Nightwing said. "Jennie is good for him; she's all full of the motherly love thing right now."

"Any progress on finding the Joker's killer?" he asked. Several more members of the Titans were approaching. Cyborg was rounding up the members of the Injustice League so there was no chance of the hostilities arising again. 

"It's very difficult. The police did a crappy job of gathering evidence because they didn't care. I try to question suspects and everyone gives me the run around. Even Bruce is indifferent to it all. You can tell he's upset about the murder, but at the same time he's relieved."

"Is it true he's back to being Batman?" Donna Troy asked. She was the leader of the American version of the Titans.

Nightwing nodded. "Yep, though Selina has gone back to her Catwoman identity."

"Much better costume," Arsenal said with a wide grin. 

"Hey! That's my mom," Nightwing retorted. Everyone started laughing except for one person. Nightwing received a cold scowl from Starfire, but he sort of understood why. There was a time a few years back when she meant the world to him.

They had been teammates, then friends and finally lovers. They had talked about marriage and he found himself comparing Starfire to his current wife. They were both supermodels, both unique skin colors, both fiery and independent. 

They were also very different. Jennie was all heart, willing to do anything for her man whereas Nightwing always assumed that Starfire wanted to kill him for breaking her heart. She was a Tammaran, a race of warriors and she had become rougher around the edges in their time of separation.

"Are you okay, Kory?" he asked, hoping to start a conversation.

She gave him a cold stare. "I am always fine, Richard; but you never understood the ways of my people."

He started to reply when he suddenly saw the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. He said nothing else to her, realizing that in public like this she would only try to humiliate him in order to preserve her honor.

It was when they were alone that he finally spoke. "You killed the Joker," he said. His tine was not accusing, but more resigned. 

"Let me guess, Richard," she said as she dropped the towel from around her shapely figure and sat down top rub lotion on her legs. "You forgot all about me, didn't you?"

"No, I forgot what your people are really like. I forgot the moral code of Tamarra that you so often spoke of. Your people have a unique way of dealing with problems. You don't so much go after someone who offends you as you go after the person who initially caused the offense to occur." He averted his eyes as she rubbed lotion on her breasts. When they had been together, they had not been so open sexually. She had changed so much that he didn't even recognize her sometimes.

"Exactly," she said, no remorse in her voice, no hint of regret for what she had done. "The Joker started the chain of events that took you away from me. Do you know what it is in my culture to have the male break off an engagement? I'm scorned, Richard; I have to marry below my station now."

He didn't apologize. "Murder?"

"Human laws, as I have learned, are so arbitrary. It's a wonder how your planet even survives. You coddle the guilty and laugh at the innocent…"

"You're a super-hero…"

"Again, human definition. I'm a princess training in the ways of war. I have lost my innocence, Richard, and it feels good," she said, scooping up a robe. She tied it in the front and then moved over to her make-up mirror. "For too long we non-humans have tried so hard to fit into your molds, to be the nice aliens you wanted us to be."

"You killed an innocent man!" Nightwing screamed.

"Prove it," she said without missing a stroke of her eyeliner. "All you have is a gut feeling. There is no evidence and if there was, do you think any prison on this planet could hold me, Richard?" She threw her head back and laughed. "I'm a royal princess; I can make a liaison with a dozen alien races. Do you think the other aliens on this planet will allow it?"

"Spare me, Kory; this isn't about alien rights! This is about your warped moral code that has no place on this planet!" He took a step closer and pointed at her, his finger shaking from rage. "Why didn't you kill Barbara then?"

She turned to him and smiled. Despite his anger, he felt it having a calming effect on him. "She was the wounded puppy; of course you went to her. I handled my anger towards her. I knew it wouldn't last, but then Jennie came along."

He felt sick. "My God, you're insane!"

"Kal doesn't think so," she said, striking a hard blow to Nightwing's heart. She seemed to sense it. "That's right, Richard; I moved from a Teen Titan to a super man."

"He knows?"

"I think the better question is does he care? You will never know, Richard, because there is no proof." She went back to putting on her make-up and he stood there, his hand becoming a fist. He wanted to strike her, to toss her around the room and then slap handcuffs on her.

But she was right. The Joker was dead and nobody cared except for him. And why did he care anyway? After everything the Joker did, shouldn't he have paid the ultimate price? Wasn't society better off without that madman? 

He swallowed hard and his mind raced to find the answer. "Go ahead, Richard, go ask your hero Superman if I killed the Joker. See what he says. I dare you." She started laughing again. "You won't though, because you can't bear the thought he might know, that he might approve. Maybe Batman was right; yes, I remember our late night talks. Batman hates aliens, doesn't trust them." She turned back to face him. "There could be a good reason for that." Her eyes suddenly started to glow, but he didn't back down.

"I don't have proof, Kory, and I'm willing to bet Superman doesn't know. True, he might not be looking to find out either, but that doesn't make him guilty. He can't do everything…"

"Oh, cry me a river, human," she said. There was contempt in her voice and he commented she sounded like her evil sister. "Maybe I just finally realized she was correct about most of you insects."

"Listen to you! What about Donna? What about Roy? They are your friends!"

She shrugged. "True, but they are honest with me. They didn't lie about loving me."

"I did love you."

"Liar."

"Go to hell, Kory," he snapped. "I won't give up and you know it. I will find the proof…"

"Fuck off," she said in her native tongue. He knew enough of it to respond with a few choice words. He left then, slamming her door shut and shoving past a startled Arsenal.

"Uncle Dick," James started as he approached the man who was now raising him. It had taken weeks for him to find his voice again after all that he had seen. Richard spared no expense in therapists and specialists and their progress was really beginning to show. James had even laughed the day before as he played with little baby John. "Can I ask a question?"

"You just did," Richard joked as he set down the French-language newspaper. The boy seemed confused and Richard rubbed a hand through his dark hair. He thought he could just make out a hint of red in it. "What is it, sport?"

"Did you love my mommy?"

Jennie appeared at the doorway then and nodded silently to Richard, giving her blessing for him to continue, to speak his heart. "Very much, but I didn't love her enough. Your mother required a special love that many people wanted to give her, but couldn't."

"Did my daddy love my mommy?" he asked, his bottom lip trembling.

"Your father…was hurting on the inside. He had problems that nobody knew how to help him with and in the end, it made him do some very bad things." The boy started crying and Richard felt his eyes watering. It reminded him of when he had asked Bruce why his own parents had to die. 

He took James in his arms and gave him a hug. "A lot of bad things have happened, Jimmy, but its over now. Your mother wanted you safe and I'll keep you that way. Me and Jennie and grandpa Bruce and grandma Selina…"

He sniffled. "She don't look like a grandma…"

"I've heard that," Richard said, a big smile on his face. "Just remember that because bad things happen, it isn't your fault."

"I know, Uncle Dick, but I want to do something…I'm so sad…"

It was déjà vu for Dick and he was immediately taken back to that night in the Batcave when Bruce offered him the chance to become Robin. Is that what he was supposed to do?

The Jade Falcon landed on top of the roof of the Gotham Municipal building and turned off his energy field by absorbing it into his body. He stepped to the edge, behind his quarry and smacked him in the back of the neck.

Batman turned around and put his hands on his hips. "Hi, John."

John Grayson pulled off his mask and wiped the sweat from around his eyes. "Terry as I live and breath! Imagine finding you here, watching a building burn." Batman ignored the joke. "You're older than me," Batman said. "You should act it."

John shrugged and stepped to the edge. There was nothing they could do now except watch. Batman was dressed in his normal costume, a black body suit with a large red bat. Again, John offered his opinion. "My dad says the older costume with the cape and cowl was better."

"Your dad is married to a hottie; he can say what he wants."

"Yuck! That's my mom you're talking about!"

"Seen Jimmy anywhere?" Batman asked.

"He's around…there!" John said, pointing down at the fire. A figure was emerging from the building, carrying a bundle that both men knew was a child. The bundle was immediately handed off to awaiting paramedics. James Gordon was then led away from the fire where he could get out of his fire suit. "Playing hero again," John said.

"What the hell are you talking about? He is a hero," Batman said. John agreed and James seemed to sense their presence above. He pulled off his big red GCFD hat and waved to them. "You think he regrets your dad's decision not to train him?"

"Nah. He's carrying on his own family tradition," John said. "You got to respect that."

"Yeah, I guess you do. With guys like him, do you think we're going to be needed anymore?"

John considered it for a moment and then smiled. "It would be nice, wouldn't it?"

Batman nodded. "A world without super-heroes, where policemen and firemen were able to solve all of society's problems. Yes, that would be nice."

End


End file.
